


A name for a Hero

by aiwass_crowley



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Between volume 2 and 3, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Character Death, F/F, I'm Bad At Summaries, Implied/Referenced Torture, New tittle, Original Character(s), Original name was The meaning of being a Hero, Pre-Volume 3 (RWBY), a little of romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 17:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 43,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18855946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aiwass_crowley/pseuds/aiwass_crowley
Summary: A few days before the Vytal Festival, Cinder is attacked in Beacon by a strange Shadow, and it's next target seems to be Ruby, now Team RWBY must cooperate with friends and foes alike to stop this new enemy.





	1. A shadow returns.

In the dormitories of Beacon Academy, a black-haired woman walked through the corridors to her room while talking with someone on her scroll "When I told you two to do some reconnaissance, I didn't mean that you two should go and flirt with the locals!" this woman was Cinder Fall, and she was furious, "I don't care if this was Mercury's idea, I need you two to keep a low profile, you should come to our room and quickly, there has been a change in the plans" Cinder said the last in a whisper in case someone were to be near and hear her said things that could complicate her mission.

She currently worked with who probably was the most dangerous 'person' in Remnant, Salem, if this plan failed she could very well be considerate death, first she needed to finish the Fall Maiden, retrieve the relic that was hidden in Beacon, and kill Ozpin if the opportunity presented.

"I don't care if you have to break his legs but bring him here," Cinder ordered to the person on the other side, after ending the call she sighed as she leaned against the wall "Ahh, I'm surrounded by idiots," whispering more to herself than anything. After the incident in mountain Glenn, the operation started to make some progress, the White Fang found a better place to hide in the forest outside of Vale, the robbery of Dust was almost finished so Roman being arrested wouldn't be a problem and nobody suspect her or her team of being the mole.

But then strange things started to happen, Adam informed her that his men had been disappearing recently, it wouldn't be weird considering that Grimms prowled in the forest,but those disappearing always happened in the middle of the camp without anybody finding a body or traces of a fight, and now her reserves of Dust were disappearing, someone was sabotaging her, but who?

Once she arrived at her room she closed the door and sat in a chair, trying to find who could be responsible " _I don't think that Ozpin or his allies have found about our plan, and Neo wouldn't do something like this without the security that she could help Roman all by herself, Emerald and Mercury are too loyal to me so they wouldn't dare, Watts or Tyrian wouldn't dare to do something that could ruin Salem's plans, and Hazel has no reason to sabotage my plans_ ". It wasn't until she suspired and saw her breath that she realized that her room was oddly cold.

"Who is there?!" She stood up fast and screamed, someone was in the room with her, she was certain that this person was also the one responsible for derailing her plans, it was too much of a coincidence for someone to infiltrate in her room and wait at the same time she decided to plan a countermeasure, "Come out so I can see the most recent pest in my life."

Looking around the room she spotted a large shadow in the door, it could be described jellyfish-like in shape but some kind of material covered it from 'head' to 'toe' in some kind of cloak that ended in numerous tendrils, the shadow was so big that it almost touched the roof in the room, it didn't have mouth nor eyes, it was almost like staring at shadow.

It didn't move nor made any sound yet Cinder just knew that it was observing her "Wh..what are you?" She started breathing more erratic and her heartbeat accelerated, she was scared, Cinder Fall was scared of wherever that shadow was.

Right now the most logical thing to do would have been to escape or avoid any conflict with the shadow, without the backup of Emerald and Mercury she didn't dare to attack it without knowing what was capable of. But that would mean admitting that she was scared, so Cinder conjured a spear made out of Dust and she threw it to the Shadow, but the spear never made contact, it didn't move a foot before a tendril reached it midair stoping it, without thinking it twice Cinder jumped through the window in an attempt to escape from the Shadow, she needed to regroup with her team and find a way to stop the Shadow before it derailed her plans even more.

Cinder ran towards the entrance of Beacon, pushing anyone who was in her way, "Emerald said that she was in the commercial district, if I run fast enough I should be able to find them and come with a..." her thoughts were interrupted when a torrent of black particles passed around her, these particles started to gather to form the Shadow that was in her room just a moments ago, before she could fully stop, three tendrils shoot towards her, barely dodging them as they grazed her.

Students started to gather around her and the Shadow, "What is that?" "Should we call a teacher?" "Are they filming a movie?" "Is that a Grimm?! what is it doing inside of the school?!" the more students started talking the more alarmed they became, and soon enough they unsheathed their weapons "Take cover!" someone in the crowd screamed to Cinder and she instinctively jumped outside of the circle of students as they shot the Shadow.

But the Shadow didn't react no matter just how much the shot or how powerful the explosions were, it waited until everyone ran out of ammo that the Shadow attacked, first it attacked with its tendrils destroying the weapons of the students, when one tried to sneak behind the Shadow a tendril wrapped around his ankle, lifting him up and throwing him to the crowd, only to follow up with a whip from its tendrils, throwing away most of the students around it, breaking the Aura of some just through sheer force.

Without weapons some students decided to run, will others stayed to stop the Shadow, but the Shadow didn't pay them attention, one of its tendrils shot towards another group "Aaaaaaahhhh!!!!" a scream surged from the crowd as the tendril retracted towards the shadow, dragging Cinder with it, the tendril having pierced her ankle and wrapped itself around her leg.

"Somebody stop that thing it's going to kill her!!" "Why nobody has brought a teacher!!" The students started screaming at each other without any idea of what to do, everyone was paralyzed from fear, a few students jumped behind the Shadow in a last attempt to stop it, only to be tossed with a tendril.

"Blake Now!" after this scream a blonde girl was catapulted towards the Shadow, punching it in the 'face', while another black haired girl with a bow cut the tendril at the same time the punch connected, liberating Cinder and throwing the Shadow towards the nearest wall.

"Are you ok? let me help you get out of here" The girl with the bow asked Cinder, helping her get up.

"As good as anyone would be after being attacked by some strange Grimm" Responded Cinder sarcastically, barely keeping herself from blowing the persona of Cinder, the kind and cool student from Mistral.

As Cinder was leaning from the girl's shoulder she looked towards the Shadow now stuck in the wall, " _Something isn't right_ " she said trying to find what was wrong, she continued to stare the Shadow.

"See I told you that it would be easy Blake" The same blonde girl who punched the Shadow approached Cinder, or more specifically to Blake, the girl that was helping her.

"It's a good thing that it worked, but I think that you should leave the strategies to Ruby and Weiss" Blake responded with a calm smile, "We better take her to the infirmary and tell Ozpin what happened here".

It wasn't until Blake started walking towards the infirmary that Cinder realized what was wrong, "Wait, that thing isn't dead yet, its body hasn't disappeared yet!" Cinder screamed.

Yang looked at Cinder in confusion, "What do you mean that it hasn't disappeared ye..." The blonde girl didn't finish before a black tendril hit her in the back, throwing her away from Cinder and Blake

"YANG!!" Blake screamed alarmed from the surprise attack, only to doge a second attack going towards her and Cinder, "Hide in those bushes over there, try calling anyone to come here with your scroll" Blake said in a stern tone while she left Cinder on her own.

Blake ran towards the Shadow, dodging Tendrils that were shot towards her, leaving some shadows on her own to try to confuse her attacker, once she was a few meters away from the Shadow she transformed her Sword in a gun and started to shot it while running in circles around the Shadow. The Shadow was so concentrated on Blake that it never saw Yang come from behind it, realizing too late when the blonde punched it's 'torso' lifting it a little bit from the floor, only to continue with another punch that returned the Shadow to the ground, leaving a crater. After a few seconds, the Shadow got up again and started to whips its tendrils towards Yang, those attacks were to fast that Yang decided to block with her forearms the attacks.

The Shadow didn't look that it would stop at any time and Yang feel how she was almost charged, now she needed an opportunity, it was when her hair started to look like it was set on fire and her lilac eyes turned red that Blake came from behind the Shadow, slicing it in half, being that moment when Yang broke her guard and punched a hole in the upper half of the Shadow, leaving both halves lifeless in the ground.

"Well, that was a thing." Yang said with a tired smile, "By the way, were where you while that thing started whipping me?" she continued now locking curios for the answer from her partner

"I was trying to find its weak point, and besides, it wasn't like you were in trouble" Blake responded with a serious face but a playful tone.

"Oh really, so what was its weak point?" responded Yang with an amused expression.

"I didn't find any, so I did the second-best thing and hoped that you would finish it with brute strength alone" Blake responded now looking the disintegrating body of the Shadow, her relaxed expression disappeared, being replaced for one of terror when she saw how the black particles of the Shadow started to gather, reforming its body

"Eeeh, Blake? I don't think that your plan worked" Yang said as she and Blake took a step back.

The Shadow finished regenerating before the two huntresses, but it looked a bit different, now with some red marks all over its body an with two thin human-like arms emerging from its sides, after closing its fingers like it was familiarising with its new appendage, it took a step forward, Yang and Blake took instinctively a step backwards, the Shadow tilting its head at the reacting, then extending its new arm, pointing a finger at the direction Cinder, who was being carried away by a girl with green short hair.

"Blake, I think it wants us to give that girl to it" Yang whispered to Blake.

"I can see that, do you think you could defeat it again for long enough so we can escape?" Blake asked, never leaving the Shadow from her vision.

"That won't be necessary the calvary it's on its way" Yang responded with a smug grin, putting something in her pocket. The Shadow now seeing that neither of the huntresses would do anything it took another step, only for a white glyph to appear in the ground, freezing it in its place, shortly after a girl with white hair ran towards Blake and Yang.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Ruby when looking for professor Ozpin, she should be here at any moment" The white-haired girl responded now trying to catch her breath, "So that's the new Grimm that you said infiltrated Beacon? How it even got here without anyone noticing it?" She continued, now giving a good look at the Shadow who now was trying to break free, it wasn't until the Shadow saw who was the new girl that it stopped struggling, now 'staring' the new girl without making any move.

"Well, it looks like everything is under control now, thanks, Weiss" Yang said, releasing her breath that she started holding without noticing, "We better keep an eye on that Grimm, who knows what other tricks it has under its sleaves, or at least until Ozpin arrives" Yang continued now relaxing that the fight was over, now looking to her surroundings, now deserted from students, even Cinder wasn't around anymore, having escaped.

"Guys are you ok?!" A chirpy voice screamed from ahead of them, it belonged to a girl with a red cape and black hair with red tips, she was accompanied by a tall man with gray hair with a cane in hand, both of them running towards the rest.

When the girl with the cape screamed the Shadow broke free from its trance-like state, turning its 'head' around to see the girl. Weiss, Blake, and Yang held their breath at the sudden reaction from the Shadow, making both the girl with the cape and the man with the cane stop, now everyone paying attention to the Shadow.

"AaaaaaAaAaAaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" at the sudden scream from the Shadow everyone covered their ears, 'rrRuu..bbyYy Rooooooseee!!!" after the second scream the Shadow grew two blades in its forearms, only to disappear in a cluster of black particles, and for this particles to move behind the girl with the cape, reforming in the Shadow in less than a second, now with a blade moving towards her neck.

"Ruby watch out!!" screamed Yang in panic, now running towards Ruby, only for a glyph to appear below her and propelling her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, my name is Aiwass Crowley, thanks for reading my first fic.
> 
> This is an idea that I have in my mind for a while now, so I thought "What better way to use my time in the finals weeks of College than to write a fic", I hope that all of you who read this first chapter enjoys it, I would be adding more tags as the story progress.  
> I have more stories of Team Rwby and characters of other series that I would like to tell, but in the meantime please enjoy this history.
> 
> As you may have noticed English isn't my first language so I would be really happy if you could point out any mistake a may have done so I can fix it if you have also any suggestions or would like to say hello, please do, I would like the feedback.
> 
> And finally, something that I always wanted to "say":  
> Disclaimer: RWBY doesn't belong to me nor any of its characters, they all belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum
> 
> Edit: Ok I didn't realize that I wrote dusk instead of dust


	2. Attack, Retreat and a little chat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I just realized that I have been writing Dusk instead of Dust, but I already fixed that.  
> And before I forget it, I made a Tumblr, there is a ~~Really bad drawn~~ sketch of the Shadow [Link](https://aiwass-crowley.tumblr.com/post/185077443293/while-i-feel-that-i-shouldnt-post-the-design-i)  
> Without anything left to say, please enjoy this chapter

She was talking with Weiss about the Vytal Festival and what kind of strategies they could use, they were on their way to their dorm when her scroll started buzzing:

       -come qck  
       -grmm in bcon  
       -bring oz  
       -we r in the entrance

"...and if the enemy team has someone with a semblance similar to the girl that was with Roman I think the best course of action could be..., are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Weiss stopped talking once she realized that Ruby stayed behind.

"There is a Grimm on the loose here in Beacon," Ruby turned around, "you go and help Yang and Blake, they are in the entrance, I will go for Ozpin" she screamed as she started running towards the clocktower.

"Ruby this is a Huntsmen Academy, a single Grimm shouldn't be a problem big enough that requires that we bring Professor Ozpin" Weiss responded irritated.

"Yang was the one who asked for help" Ruby stared at Weiss with a serious face, the implications of what she just said should be enough to convince Weiss, right?

"I will go and help them, you go and bring Ozpin" Weiss started gliding with the help of her glyph towards the school's entrance.

"Take care" And without waiting for an answer Ruby disappeared in a cloud of roses.

And now here she is, with Ozpin seeing this new Grimm, it didn't look like any other Grimm that she had ever fought before or read about, if it weren't for the red marks all over its body she would have thought that she was looking at the shadow of the Grimm for just how black it was, it almost feels like staring some abyss, and because of how calm the Grimm was when she arrived, she didn't expect for this abyss to look back at her.

"AaaaaaAaAaAaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" Ruby covered her ears from the Grimm's piercing screaming, she almost passed out because for how deafening and painful it was.  
"rrRuu..bbyYy RooOooOsSeEe!!!" Hearing her name come out from a Grimm was probably the most terrific thing that Ruby ever lived in her short life, so she never reacted when the Grimm suddenly appeared behind her, with a blade towards her neck.

"Ruby!!!", She hears her friends scream for her, but she couldn't even react, so when she realized what was happening it was too late, but the edge of the blade never made contact.

"Ruby, I would recommend that you and your team start running towards the school and tell Professor Glynda to activate protocol Ajax, she will know what to do" Ozpin had created a green shield around him that protected both him and Ruby, outside the shield the Grimm was viciously attacking the shield with its blades and tendrils in frenzy, completely ignoring the attacks of Blake, Yang, and Weiss who now were now trying to protect their leader.

"I will count up to three, at that moment I will lift the shield, while you and the rest of you team escape I will distract this beast, if I'm honest with you Ruby, I don't know for long I will be able to distract it, and considering the fact that it's going explicitly against you, it will probably ignore me so it can go for you, so I want you to run and don't look back no matter what" Professor Ozpin had a somber tone, being so concentrated in maintaining the shield that he didn't turn around to see the expression of fear in Ruby.

"Guys, we are going to follow Professor Ozpin's plan, it would be the best if you all start running towards the school instead of wait for me" Ruby said, trying to keep her voice in check, she couldn't show her friends that she was afraid, after all, how could a huntress in training be afraid of the very thing she is training to fight against.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss stooped their attacks to look at Ruby, they didn't want to leave her will they ran with their tails between their legs.

"Aaah sis? did you hit your head?" Yang sounded between angry and exasperated, her eyes turning red "Because if you haven't noticed, A TALKING GRIMM WHO IT'S PUSHING OZPIN AND ITS SEMIMGLY IMMORTAL IT'S TRYING TO KILL YOU!!!!" Yang almost tore strands of her hair just for how angry.

"I know!"Ruby stared at her sister in the eyes "but right now this is our best strategy, Professor Ozpin is the only one who can fight it and if we stay here we will be only on his way, please, you have to trust me"

"Of course I trust you" Yang cooled down "But you can't blame me for being worried for my sister" She looked at Blake and Weiss, "Let's go, girls, we better hurry up"

As the three girls started running towards the school, Weiss stopped.

"You better come back, we haven't decided what will be our strategy for the tournament, and there is still a lot of things that we have to do," she said as she turned around to look Ruby in the eyes, only to turn around again and start running.

"Are you ready Ruby?" asked Ozpin know that the rest of team RWBY have agreed to the plan.

"Uh-huh," Ruby affirmed as she prepared to spring towards the entrance, now with Blake and Yang waiting for her.

"One..."Ozpin took a deep breath, "two..." he put more strength in the grip in his cane "THREE, NOW!!!" and as he throws himself against the Grimm, the shield shattered.

Before the Grimm could attack Ruby, Ozpin used his semblance to attack it, making it back up, the Grimm tried to chase after Ruby but Ozpin blocked the path between them. "grrrr" the Grimm growled, only for it to start attacking Ozpin with its tendrils and blades, but Ozpin was too fast, blocking all the attacks and counterattacking, if he was struggling he didn't show it, when it looked like the Grimm was going to lose, the Grimm exploded in a cloud of black particles that surrounded Ozpin. Suddenly a tendril materialized attacking Ozpin in the back, "Ahh!" when he turned around there was nothing but the particles in the air, and then two tendrils slashed him in the eyes blinding him temporarily and in his right arm making him drop his cane, if it wasn't for his Aura he would have lost the fight in that moment, but he knew that the Grimm wasn't trying to win the fight.

Once Ozpin started to see again, the cloud of particles wasn't there but behind Ruby.

"Ruby get down!!" Yang screamed as she threw a punch at Ruby's direction, Ruby dodged the punch by sliding in her knees while Yang punched the cloud, but the cloud divided itself into two halves that passed around Yang, when she turned around the Grimm had already materialized, and before she could react the Grimm wrapped a tendril around her leg and send her against Blake who was now behind the Grimm trying to go for a sneak attack, a sound of broken glass resonated when the two huntresses collided.

"Yang, Black!!" Ruby screamed when she saw her sister and friend being sent flying against a wall, but before they could crash a glyph appeared mid-air, catching them.

Weiss jumped out the school window, moments later an energy shield surrounded the school and then a shield of ice surrounded her with Weiss inside it.

"We are good" Yang responded with a little grunt still in the ground, she sounded clearly tired and that sound was probably her Aura giving up.

"You stay here and rest," Blake put her hand in Yang's shoulder, squeezing it a little, "I'll help them" She tried to comfort Yang who now was trying to get up and failing.

Before she could say anything the sound of ice breaking made her turn to see the Grimm attacking the ice's barrier.

"Plase help my sister," Yang said almost tearing up in tears, Blake only nodded and run towards the Grimm, but before she could arrive the Grimm finally broke the barrier, sending both Weiss and Ruby against the school's barrier.

"Ruby run!!" Weiss screamed at her but before she could do anything a tendril stabbed her cape to the ground, stopping her from escaping. Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose and parried the first wave of tendrils, but when the Grimm attacked with its blades and they made contact with Crescent Rose, Ruby suddenly fainted, the Grimm without missing a beat, shot all its tendrils towards Ruby now in the ground to finish her. But Weiss stood between Ruby and the Grimm with her weapon pointed against the Grimm, the tendrils stopped an inch of Weiss.

"Get. Away. From her" Weiss's voice was filled with rage, she tried to maintain her composure but her hands trembled in fear, the Grimm stared at her for a moment, then it looked at Blake who approached Ruby, lifting her in her arms, to Yang who was now slowly walking towards them, and finally to Ozpin who was behind the Grimm with its cane ready to attack the Grimm.

"You seem to be smart enough to know that it would be the best for you to run," Ozpin said in his usual calm voice.

"wee..iss" Ruby whispered as she tried to wake up, only to faint again, the Grimm stared at Ruby for a moment, only to return its gaze to Weiss.

"WeEe...IiIsSs" the Grimm spoked now in a more calm voice, it sounded like two people were speaking at the same time, its voice was raspy, and for the way, it speaks it seems like it hurt the Grimm the act, and before anyone could react, the Grimm dissolved in a cloud of black particles, leaving Beacon.

"Soooooo...., did we win?" Yang asked now that the Grimm wasn't there anymore.  
"I wouldn't say that, but considering that nobody suffered any major injuries, yes we won this battle" Ozpin answered Yang question, "Blake if you could take Ruby to the infirmary, I will go after I attend a few affairs of extreme importance" and with that, he started walking towards his office. 

 

* * *

 

"The students that were attacked during the infiltration, are ok, a few bruises but nothing serious, and regarding the student 'Cinder Fall', leader of team CMEO (Cameo), I think I found something interesting," Glynda showed a holographic image copy of Cinder's documents to Ozpin, who was now in his chair in his office evaluating the damage of the attack, "Just like Mr. Arc, there seems to be so discrepancies in her papers and from her teammates, and if I'm honest, she does look a bit older than 19 years old" adjusting her glasses she showed the papers of the two other students.  
  
"Emerald Sustrai, she claims to have been studying all her life in Mistral, yet has numerous police reports that range from theft to armed assault, Mercury Cobalt also claims to have lived all his life in Mistral, but his appearance coincides with that of another Mercury, Mercury Black, the son of Marcus Black, famous assassin, he was found dead in his house, nobody knew he had a son until a photo of both of them appeared in the ruins along with some documents of Mercury, because the body was never found they concluded that he killed his son, and in his grief, he set himself on fire" Glynda paused for a moment to give Ozpin a worrying face.

"The last teammate of Cinder is this girl, Onice Dust," Glynda showed the documents of a girl with black hair in pigtails, she was rather small for her age "She was the daughter from a rich family in Signal until one night she was found dead from an overdose in some alley in the bad side of the city" Glynda's tone was somber "Ozpin I think I don't need to tell you what this could mean, the attack on the Autumn, the White Fang in mountain Gleen, all the large amount of stolen Dust in all the kingdom and the infiltration in the CCT" Her voice showed just how worried she was with all the implications.

"I understand your worries, but right now, because of James actions I have my hands tied if I try to leave the school without a clear motive, who knows what the council could do," Ozpin paused to take a sip of his coffee, "But I already have a plan, if you could go and see how Ruby is, I will follow in a moment" Ozpin stared at Glynda awaiting for an answer.

"Ok, I trust that you know how to deal with the affairs related to 'The Witch'" Glynda didn't dare to pronounce Salem's name, it wasn't that she was afraid, it was more that she feels that just saying her name was inviting the misfortune to her life, she marched towards the elevator only to stop at the door, looking at a device on the wall, "Weird, the thermostat its on, but this place is freezing" she started tinkering with the device.

"It's okay, I will have it fixed another time" Ozpin responded, hearing his answer Glynda showed him a smile of worried before exiting the office, like telling him without words that she was worried for his wellbeing, "I know that you are here, show yourself" Ozpin said after he knew that he was alone in the office. Or he was before clouds of dark particles appeared from the dark corners of his office, gathering to form the Grimm that he fought earlier.

"In all my life I have seen a lot of strange things, but nothing like you, your body looks like that of a Grimm, but this tentacle of yours," Ozpin pulled the tendril that Blake cut in their fight from his pocked, "Is just a piece of cloth infused with Dust, this would normally make me think that you are a Faunus or Human, if it wasn't for the fact that any other person would have died after my first attack, aura or not, and those blades that you pulled from your arms reminded me of how some Grimms can manipulate their body," Ozpin got closer to the nameless creature "What are you?, and Why you attacked my students" Even though he didn't raise his voice, his anger was palpable.

"..." The creature didn't respond to Ozpin, it looked more interested in the documents of the alleged allies of Salem.

"I watched the videos of your fights, and that made me curious" Ozpin retreated to sit on his chair, he played a recording from one of the security cameras in Beacon, showing the fights between the creature and the students of Beacon, "You tried to kill Ms. Cinder, easily breaking her Aura in a single attack, and any other person that attacked you, you either ignored them, broke their weapons or their Aura, but with Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Belladonna you took your time fighting them, but you never tried to hurt them, is there any reason for that?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow curious for the answer.

"...PlaYIng" The creature whispered in a deep and raspy voice but the echo of a female voice followed, never showing any reaction.

"Interesting, but you stopped fighting when Ms. Schnne showed up, what happened, did you got bored from playing?" Ozpin continued with his interrogation.

"...ToO FraaiIiLL, AfRaiD, tOO..." The creature stopped before it could continue with its answer, Ozpin seemed genuinely surprised at the answer of the creature.

"I suppose that you won't share any more information about that, right?" Ozpin asked, only receiving silence as an answer, "One last question, why Ruby Rose? You completely avoided hurting more than necessary any other person that wasn't Cinder but went you saw Ruby, you really tried to kill her, not even to Cinder who I suppose was your original target didn't attack her so viciously" Ozpin took another sip from his coffee before staring again to the creature.

"...HaATTe" That was the only response of the creature, it sounded more agitated at the mere mention of Ruby, and before Ozpin could ask anything else, the creature pointed with its tendrils the archives of Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury, "WheEErRe?" now the creature was the one asking.

"I'm sorry, but I cant give you that information until we clear up some doubts regarding their past, and affiliations, but even if I had given you that information and you killed them, then what?" Ozpin took his cane as he stared to the creature.

"...KiIiLLl SaAalEEemM" and with that, the creature started fading in the cloud of particles.

"Wait, how do you know Salem?! how do you plan to kill Salem?! who are you?!?" Ozpin stood up now clearly agitated and more confused than before.

"MaanYY NamESSss, I fORgot, OnE iS GHooSsT" and Ghost finally disappeared in the cloud of particles from Ozpin's office, "ThaAnK YoOU OozZmA" whispered Ghost now leaving Ozpin alone.

Ozpin sat in his chair, now more confused than before, he pulled his Scroll and called someone, "Glynda, please bring Pyrrha to Autunm, and call back Qrow" and before she could say something he hung up, only to call someone again "James, there has been a change in our plans".

 


	3. Dreams and Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, school kept me busier than I expected so this chapter was a little late, but after this week I should be done with School for a little while. It also took a little longer because I also re-watched Vol 1 to 3 of RWBY to refresh my memory for certain parts, and yes, Vol 3 still hurts, I lost it when I May Fall started.
> 
> Without further ado, please enjoy this chapter.

I don't remember much of what happened after my fight with the Grimm, in one moment I'm barely blocking and parrying its tendrils, but the moment our blades touched, my mind went blank, I could feel everything the Grimm felt, all of its hate, rage and despair overwhelmed me, and then everything when black.

By the time I recovered my consciousness I was in a completely different place from Beacon, it was some wasteland, completely devoid of life, there were some purple crystals coming from the ground and pools of some black goo scattered across the land, and in the distance, I could see what looked like some castle in ruins. It was at that moment when I noticed that I was laid back in someplace different from the rocky terrain of this place, it was more soft and squishy.

"ah, AAAAAHH!!! What!?, What is this!?" I almost threw up when I saw where I woke up, it was a literal mountain of corpses, there must have been hundreds or even thousands of bodies, men and women, young and old, Faunus or not, and all of them had an expression of horror on their faces, once I have calmed down I started to climb down as fast as possible.

When I finally got down I finally saw just how big the mountain was, it was as big as the CCTS in Beacon, or even bigger. I looked up in the sky, trying to use the stars to find my way, only to find that there was a solar eclipse or something that looked like one for the lack of moon shards in the sky, this place clearly wasn't home, I pulled up my hood as I started to search for anyone.

"Weiss!!, Yang!!!, Blake!!!" I started to scream for my friends while I walked to see if I could find someone "Is anybody here?" I know how dumb I must look, searching for someone in a place that screamed 'Enter if you want to die a horrible death, but right now I was in a really desperate situation.

"Who. Is. There?" It was a whisper, barely audible. I can't believe that there was actually someone here.

"Oh thank the goddesses, for I moment I thought that I wouldn't find anyone heer..." I started running towards the voice's direction but stopped when I saw who was the owner of the voice, it was some kind of humanoid creature, it was walking towards the mountain while it dragged something.

It clearly wasn't human, but it also didn't look like some Grimm, its legs and arms were just too long and thin to be that of a human, it had a really big set of claws and its feet were similar to that of a Beowulf, and it's 'skin' was similar to that of a Grimm, it had a ragged cape with a hood covering its face, but instead of face it had an amorphous ball of darkness over its shoulders, it looked just like an abyss, an abyss to similar to that of the Grimm that infiltrated Beacon and tried to kill me.

"Who. Are. You?" the Creature stopped and asked once it saw me, I instinctively tried to pull Crescent Rose, only to notice that I didn't have her.

"I... I'm Ruu... Summer Rose," I lied, the first time the Grimm from earlier heard my name it went berserker, I ain't still sure if the Grimm and this Creature were the same, but better be safe than sorry "what's your name?"

"Name?" The Creature asked, sounding more confused than anything, "Name. Name. Name. Name..." The Creature started rambling as it stuck a claw in its 'skull' and twisted it, blood spurting from its self-inflicted injury "I. Forgot." and the Creature started walking again.

"AAH!" I was so startled that I fell once I saw what the creature was dragging, it was the corpse of a young girl, or what remained of her, I was so surprised that I didn't notice when my hood slipped off when I fell, showing my face to the creature.

"You. Aren't. Summer" the Creature dropped the corpse of the little girl as it approached me as I got up "You. Are. RUBY. ROSE!!!" Screaming my name the creature lunged towards me, I tried to run but some hands similar to those of the grimms were pinning me down.

 

* * *

 

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Ruby screamed as she woke up, fighting the blankets covering her.

"Ruby calm down, it's ok, everything is fine now" a redhead girl tried to calm her down as she hugged her.

"Pyrrha?" Ruby broke free from the hug once she had calmed down, with a few tears slipping from her eyes "What are you doing in my room, where is everyone" she looked around trying to find her sister or any of her other friends, only to notice that she wasn't in her room.

"You are in the hospital, after the Grimm attack, you didn't wake up so they brought you here, Yang is right now having some tests done so she can leave, Blake is probably right now tying Weiss to her bed, she refused to leave you alone in the past week, something about how she couldn't just leave her partner" Pyrrah told her as she started peeling an apple, a faint blush appeared on Ruby's face for a few moments. "When we returned from our mission Blake asked us to come so she could take Weiss to the dorms" Pyrrha looked at her scroll for a moment, showing a little bit of anger after she relaxed her face she gave the apple to Ruby.

"Is something wrong?" Ruby asked, seeing the unusual expressing in Pyrrha, she looked angrier than the time she discovered that Cardin blackmailed Jaune, it was kinda scary.

"No..., Ozpin just wants to know your condition, it's only that a lot of things happened in this week that you were asleep, shortly after you entered the hospital Ozpin called me for a 'special mission', so I'm a little irritated, but everything is fine" Pyrrha clenched her fist as she remembered what happened when Ozpin asked her help for this 'special' mission.

 

* * *

 

"I am only saying that we should come out with some names for our combination attacks" Jaune was currently trying to catch the attention of the rest of our team in the cafeteria, Nora was currently devouring a tower of pancakes while Ren was trying to 'meditate' as he called it when Nora kept him awake all night for some random reason "You know like electromagnetism or royal lotus."

"But why copy team RWBY? We don't need to use combinations like them, we work better-making plans on the fly" Nora said as she took another bite on her pancakes.

"Yeah, but it would be for the best if...."Jaune trailed off when a bunch of students entered the cafeteria.

"EVERYONE RUN!!!" "THERE IS A GRIMM IN THE SCHOOL!!" "WHERE ARE THE TEACHERS?!?!?!" suddenly there was a lot of chaos when a group of students barged in the cafeteria.

"Hey guys, where is team RWBY?" Ren seemed to return to the land of the living as he started looking around.

"Team RWBY? they stayed outside to fight the Grimm!" One of the students who were close by responded.

"Ok everyone please calm down, I SAID CALM DOWN!!!" Professor Goodwitch was now at the entrance trying to calm down the rest of the students "Right now Headmaster Ozpin is fighting the strange Grimm who attacked Beacon, in the meantime, please try to stay calm" After that most of the students have calmed down.

"Jaune I think I would be for the better if we try to help them" I whispered to Jaune "For Ozpin to intervene it must be something serious"

"Yeah, let's try to sneak out, Nora, Ren, when Professor Goodwitch leaves the door we will run towards the door" After a few moments, Glynda started checking some students who were still restless, that we ran to the door and to the school entrance.

It was only after five minutes that we saw Ozpin, Yang was leaning in Blake's shoulder and Weiss was carrying on her back an unconscious Ruby.

"Ruby, Yang!!, are you two ok" Jaune screamed as we ran towards our friends.

"Eh, I have been in worst shape" Yang shrugged off as she smiled at us, only to adopt a more grim face as she looked at Ruby "But the Grimm from earlier tried to kill Ruby, I don't know how but Ruby fainted after she attacked the Grimm" This was the first time I saw Yang so vulnerable, she sounded really worried.

"She is gonna be ok," Weiss said without looking at any of us, she continued to walk towards the infirmary, "She is too much of a dunce to let something like this stop her, she would probably wake up before any of us tomorrow in the morning"

"Don't worry, it's just a Weiss is saying, tomorrow in the morning everything is going to be back to normal" Blake told us, not sounding really convinced, "If anything happens we will tell you" and with that, they left to the infirmary.

"Maybe we should have stayed with them" later that night now in our dormitory I was walking in circles around our dormitory

"I know that you are worried about them Pyrrha, but there is nothing we could do to help them," Jaune was writing something in the desk "Besides, it's too late to go right now" I was about to say something when my scroll started ringing.

"Hello? Ah no, I'm not busy, yes, its something related to what happened today? ok, I'll be there in a moment" after that, I ended the call, only to turn around and looked Jaune with a confused expression "It was Glynda, she says that Ozpin wants to see me at the entrance of the tower"

"Is everything ok? Do you want us to come with you?" Jaune started to get up.

"No, it's ok, maybe it is something related to the Vytal Festival, you should stay here to wait for Nora and Ren," I said a little worried, why would Ozpin want to talk with me this late?

"If anything happens, please call me" I turned around to look at Jaune, he sounded concerned, after a few seconds he started to blush "Or you know, Ren or Nora, whoever you feel more comfortable asking for help, we are all a team, we help each other no matter what" He said between his babbling.

"Thank you, Jaune, if anything happens I'll make sure to call you" I could feel my face turn red as my heart started to beat faster and faster, I decided to leave the room before my face turned the same color as my hair.

Once I arrived at the tower it was already night, and the place was almost desert with the exception of Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch, and General Ironwood who were already waiting at the entrance.

"Can I know why you called me so late at night, professor Ozpin?" Better finish this quickly, I have a bad feeling from all this.

"Yes, in a moment, if you could follow me, I will tell you all on the way" Ozpin and the rest of the teachers started to walk towards the elevator, I followed them from behind, "Have you ever hear the Story of the Seasons? Miss Nykos" Ozpin asked me when we were already at the elevator.

"Yes, its a fairytale pretty popular, four sisters, who through their actions helped an old hermit and as a reward, he bestowed upon them immense power so they could help more people, why?" I was a little confused about the question.

"What would you say if I tould you that that fairytale is real?" Ozpin asked as if that was the most normal thing in the world.

"Wait, What?" I can't believe that Professor Ozpin is crazy, ok maybe a can believe that, but those that mean that the other rumors are true? does that mean that he is taking me to his dungeon?

"I can assure you that whatever you are thinking is pure exaggerations miss Nykos" Ozpin probably read my mind, and before I could say something the elevator stopped in a level that wasn't listed in the controls, "In the beginning, everyone knew of the maidens, but people who wanted their power started to hunt them, the power of the maidens doesn't grant immortality, when one dies her power is passed to the last person in the thoughts of the maiden"

"The person must be a young girl for this to happen if the last person in the thoughts of a maiden is a boy or some old lady the powers would be passed to some random person" Professor Glynda continued as we walked through some large corridor.

"But what do you think would happen if you were to be killed?" General Ironwood continued, "That's how they discovered a way to steal the maidens powers, because of that this organization has been keeping the existence of the maidens a secret" As we continued walking I saw a large machine at the end of the corridor "We have been fighting in a secret war since ancient times."

"But recently someone has been hunting the maidens again, Autumn was attacked recently, one of my guardians was able to stop them before it was too late, but..." When we arrived at the machine I saw a girl inside, she had light brown skin, she had short brown hair and an oddly shaped scar in her face, " As you can see she is in a critical state, the people who attacked her found a way to stole part of her powers"

"So you want me to become your new maiden, right?" I could already see where this was going, they needed a new maiden.

"Yes, is as you say" Ozpin sounded guilty, "We wanted to wait after the Vytal Festival, but after today's incident, we discovered something alarming" Ozpin stopped for a moment, "First of all, about the creature who attacked Ruby and another student, Ghost, we think that it isn't a Grimm, we are still unsure of what it is, or if he is really our enemy"

"Wait, what?!, after what that thing did to Ruby you are telling me that the creature isn't our enemy?!" I couldn't help but scream at Ozpin, after seeing how my friends ended after fighting that thing I don't understand how it could be considered our ally.

"I understand why you could feel that way, but please listen to me miss Nykos" Ozpin tried to calm me, "The other student who was attacked by Ghost, we think that she and her team are the ones responsible for the attack of Autumn, Ghost only attacked Ruby when it saw her so its probably that she wasn't her target, yet" Ozpin looked at the machine for a moment before continuing, "If they are already this close, it means that they already know that she is here, so we want you to..."

"I'll do it, I'll be your maiden" I took a step towards the machine, "If those people are trying to kill her so they can use her powers, then I feel that I have a responsibility as a Huntress to stop them, and with that creature loose, Ghost as you called it, I suspect that its way stronger than the assailants, right? What I need to do?"

"Yes it is as you say, Ghost could probably become an obstacle in the future" Ozpin let a sight escape as he closed his eyes, only to open them after a few seconds "..., Please enter to this machine, I will do the rest" Ozpin pointed to another machine who's door opened, after that, I entered the machine and then the door closed, "I'm sorry, miss Nykos" Ozpin apologized before he pushed a button.

I could felt my body burning, it was like someone was stabbing me with thousands of needles on fire all over my body and electricity was flowing through my veins, I wanted to scream but the pain choked me, but it seems that Autumn didn't have that problem.

"AAAAAAAA!!!!!" the screams of Autumn were painful to hear, it was like someone was killing her in some horrible way like they were... tearing... her... apart.

"Is this truly our only option?" I could hear General Ironwood over the screams of Autumn, Glynda was avoiding entirely what was happening, preferring to watch the elevator in the other side of the room, but it didn't look like Ozpin.

After what felt like an eternity, the door opened, I collapsed on the floor, still feeling how my muscles screamed, but I needed to do something first.

"Au...Autumn, how is she? Is she alright?" I tried to stand up and walk towards the other machine, but I fell the moment a saw her, she had an expression of pain in her face, she was dead, I put my hands in my mouth as tears started to come out, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, nooo, nooooo, NOOOOOOO!!!, why didn't you tell me? WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME THAT SHE HAD TO DIE?!" I screamed at them, at those murderers pretending to be teachers.

"We knew that if we have told you, you would hesitate, Ozpin wanted to tell you, but, the current situation is pretty dire, we can't waste any more time" General Ironwood tried to justify their actions.

"We know how you must feel, and we would understand if you decided to left Beacon, but please, at least until everything is over, help us" Ozpin practically begged for my help, I could still feel my blood boiling in anger, I wanted to scream at them, leave, bring Nora so she could break their legs, but this wasn't the moment, not now.

"My friends, they need to know, and no more secrets, and once this is over we must stop Ghost, maybe it is trying to help us, but after this incident is over, who knows if it would try to kill Ruby or another innocent person again if you can't agree to these conditions, then I won't help you" I tried to calm myself but it seems that for the moment it wasn't possible, they started whispering to each other, after a few minutes they stopped and Ozpin turned to me.

"We accept those conditions but team JNPR would need to fight in this secret war too, team RWBY will also be informed once Ruby and Yang have come back from the hospital, if Ghost is involved they will also end up wrapped in this fight."

"Wait, weren't they go to the infirmary?" I interrupted Ozpin, I knew that they were in bad shape, but to go to the hospital?

"Ruby hasn't woke up and Yang's injuries are worse than we thought, she has a few broken ribs and some dislocated bones and with her aura almost depleted she can't heal herself, she should be back in a week, Ruby on the other hand" Ozpin looked at the ground, like he was trying to come with some excuse, only to suspire and look at me in the eyes, "We still don't know what happened during the battle, so we can't predict when she will wake up," Ozpin took a depth breath before he continued, "returning to our agreement, while right now you are way stronger than you were before receiving the Maiden's powers, the same can't be said about your teammates, at their current state they will die, if you really want them to participate in this war then you should train, I'll send Team JNPR to a special mission, while you will go met one of my guardians so you can learn how to use the maiden's powers, when you return I'll tell you everything you need to know about our enemy"

For a moment I hesitated, accepting would mean putting the lives of my friends in danger, and if this mission is to make our team stronger there is the risk that things could go wrong.

" _If anything happens, please call me, or you know, Ren or Nora, whoever you feel more comfortable asking for help, we are all a team, we help each other no matter what_ " I remembered Jaune's words, maybe this is something selfish from my part, but I can't trust Ozpin, I need to know that I have friends on my side in this conflict.

"Understood, I will help you in that secret war of yours, but once this is over I'll make sure that what happened here is know, ill make sure that Autumn gets her justice" I tried to control my trembling, I don't know if it was from fear or anger.

"Amber" Ozpin abruptly said as he looked me in the eyes, "Her name is Amber, Autumn is just her codename" Ozpin looked tired, and I think that also remorseful, he isn't the only one.

 

* * *

 

"Are you sure that everything is fine?" Ruby asked as she leaned closer to Pyrrha, "You look really tense" she sounded worried.

"Yes I'm fine, in fact, I should be asking you that, you sounded really agitated when you woke up" Pyrrha was now the one interrogating.

"Just a nightmare, nothing to worry about" Ruby shrugged off the question, trying to avoid the subject.

"Maybe I should go for a doctor to check you, I'll be back" When Pyrrha opened the door she hit something on the other side, "Oh sorry!" Pyrrha apologized in her usual way once she realized she hit someone.

"Oh, my head" On the other side of the door, a boy with blonde hair covered in bandages was on the ground with a few snacks around him rubbing his head.

"Oh Jaune, are you ok?" Pyrrha gave him a hand so he could get up, "What are you doing here?"

"I thought that you will be lonely so I decided to keep you company and bring some snacks but it seems that won't be necessary anymore" Jaune looked inside the room to see Ruby in the hospital bed, amused for what was happening between him and Pyrrha, "Does that meant that now that she is awake and Yang is finally leaving the hospital, Ozpin will finally tell us what this super secret mission is gonna be?" Jaune asked a now slightly angry Pyrrha.

"Yes," Pyrrha took a depth breath before she continued "Our super secret mission will finally start as soon as Ozpin is informed that Ruby is awake" Pyrrha was now trying to keep herself from pinning Jaune to the wall and not in the usual way.

"In that case, I'll go to tell him," Jaune gave all the snacks that he had to Pyrrha as he entered the room, "Its good to have you back Ruby, you had us worried" And with that Jaune run, probably to Ozpin's office.

"Pyrrha, what is this super secret mission that you were talking about?" Ruby asked now that she and Pyrrha were again alone, "It sounded really serious" Ruby repeated Jaune's words with a mocking smile

"Yeah, about that, it would be for the better if we waited until Ozpin arrives, but it seems that it's related to the incident with Ghost, the creature that attacked you," Pyrrha said with a tired voice

Ruby couldn't help but cringe, now her smile disappeared, " _You. Are. RUBY. ROSE!!!_ " the words of the creature filled with hatred, resonated inside her head again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Compared to the first two chapters this is a slower one, I still need to learn how to adjust the pacing for this story.
> 
> I fell that the first person parts were to dry, I still need to learn how to give more 'live' to these parts.  
> So if you have any suggestions or tips, feel free to tell me


	4. Briefings

"Hi, sis, whatcha doi..aa" When Ruby saw her sister entering her room, she felt like she was going to need to stay another week when Yang almost crushed her in a hug, "Ya..ang, can't... breath" Ruby tried pushing her sister away until she started feeling how her shoulder started to get wet. "Yang, are you ok?" she patted her sister in the back now worried.

"I thought that I'll lose you," Yang said between her crying, "That thing wasn't even serious when it fought against us, I thought it was just another Grimm who somehow sneak into Beacon," Yang hugged her tighter as she started wailing harder. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Yang started whispering these words, more to herself than to Ruby.

"Its ok Yang, I only fell asleep for what? a week? but I'm ok now," Ruby tried to comfort her sister as a few tears escaped from her eyes, she wasn't really doing a good job at that, but she still tried, "And besides, nobody could have guessed just how strong that Grimm truly was, but look at the bright side, nobody is death" Ruby finally pulled Yang away to look at her face with a smile, while Yang has stopped crying, she had red marks under her eyes, "Right?"

"Ahem" Pyrrha make her presence know as she entered the room, "No Ruby, aside from you and Cinder everyone else who fought Ghost only has minor bruises and broken weapons, but their pride as a huntsman and huntresses is on the ground for losing against a single Grimm" Pyrrha informed Ruby of what happened, Ruby's face turned to one of horror when she heard what happened to the weapons of other students.

"Wait, Cinder?" Ruby interrupted with a tone of surprise in her voice, "The really nice girl from Mistral? Why would Ghost attack her?" Ruby was starting to grow more confused with the actions of this Ghost.

"I believe I could answer those questions and many others you all may have," A man in a black suit and a green scarf entered the room, "But first we need your whole teams to start this discussion," Ozpin took a small pause as he looked at Ruby in the eyes "once you leave the hospital, please gather your teammates and come to my office, I would like for you to make a fully recover, but those are urgent matters" As he was about to leave he saw the fury in Pyrrha eyes

Once Ozpin left the room both Yang and Ruby looked at Pyrrha, the atmosphere was getting tenser by the second "Pyrrha are you ok? You look kinda tense" Yang was the one who broke the silence.

"Yes," Pyrrha responded in a sharp way, something really unusual in her, "Sorry, I think it would be better if I just leave, Jaune and Ren are probably looking for Nora right now, I better go and tell them that Ozpin wants to talk." Before either Ruby or Yang could say something she left the room, almost running from them.

"I better bring a doctor, the sooner they let you go, the better" Yang got up as she approached the door, "I'll be right back" she gave Ruby a small smile before leaving.

* * *

"I can't believe they let me go so easily" Ruby sounded incredulous, shortly after Yang brought the doctor she only did a few physical tests and let her go, "I was practically in a coma for a week and the let me leave just like that?!" Ruby didn't know if she should feel happy because she could leave that fast, or worried that the doctors in Vale didn't seem to care for the health of their patients.

"You should consider yourself lucky, by my third day there I was already feeling good but they refused to let me go," Yang was walking around the hospital parking with her arms behind her head, "And besides, the doctor told you that aside from your sudden loss of conscience, there was nothing wrong with you, there wasn't really anything they needed to do but deal with any possible complication" They stopped once they reached a black and yellow motorcycle, 'Bumblebee' as Yang called it, her most precious belonging aside from her hair.

"Have you considered my offer, dear sister?" Ruby said in her most 'Wess-ish' voice she could mutter when she saw her sister sat on the bike as she adjusted her helmet.

"For the thirtieth time Ruby, no, I'm not gonna put saw guns, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, or a sting to 'Bumblebee', its a vehicle, nor a weapon, if I were to bring 'Bumblebee' to a fight she would break" Yang sounded almost exasperated, this wasn't the first time Ruby suggested put some weird weapon in 'Bumblebee', and knowing her it wouldn't be the last, "Come on, we need to get Blake and Weiss" she threw a helmet to Ruby, once she put it and sat on Bumblebee they finally went to Beacon.

After three hours stuck in the traffic, and almost running over a familiar old man, Yang and Ruby finally arrived at Beacon, it was barely past five pm so there was still some sunlight, as they walked towards their room some people stopped them to check how they were, after the fight with Ghost almost everyone in the school knew how team RWBY stayed with Ozpin to fight the mysterious Grimm, some even treated them as heroes.

"Finally home," Ruby was exhausted after all the attention she was receiving, "I hope Ozpin doesn't take to lon...g" Once she opened the door, she lost her words once she saw inside her room, "Pyrrha wasn't exaggerating"

Blake was sleeping with a mask covering her eyes and a pair of earplugs in both set of hears, but what stole the words of her mouth was Weiss, she was tied in her bed with a black ribbon and with another ribbon covering her mouth, preventing her from screaming, she looked like she was in a cocoon.

"Hey look they left you some presents under your bed Ruby" Yang elbowed Ruby once she saw the state of Weiss, the former was now avoiding looking at any of her teammates, and the latter was struggling to untie herself, both of them blushing "I bet you cant Weiss what its, do you think is a mini refrigerator? or maybe a weisscream machine" Yang smiled at her own pun, proud of herself, Ruby only groaned and she saw how Weiss rolled her eyes as she tried to scream.

"You wake up Blake, I'll untie Weiss," Ruby said as she approached Weiss, Yang stopped grinning, being replaced with a face of dread, the last time she tried to woke up Blake she almost lost her fingers, meanwhile Ruby was trying to untie her partner, emphasis in trying, "Just. How. Tight. Is. This!?" she was clearly struggling with the bow, after some tinkering, she finally gave up, opting for taking the ribbon off from Weiss' mouth, "Give me a second" Ruby said as she pulled Crescent Rose.

"What do you think you are gonna do with that, you maniac?!" Weiss screamed in a panic once she realized what Ruby was about to do.

"Blake tied you too tight, I just can't undo it" Ruby answered as she raised her scythe, preparing herself to cut the ribbons "Try not to move".

"And you want to cut me because of that?!" Weiss was now squirming more, trying to escape from Ruby's scythe, "In that case wake up Blake"

"I don't wanna, she gets angry every time someone wakes her up, and stop moving, it's difficult aiming with you twisting around" Ruby stuck her tongue out and closed one eye as she was aiming where she would do the cut.

"RUBY NOOOO!" "RUBY YEEEEESSS!" Both of them screamed as Ruby dropped the edge of her scythe towards Weiss, the latter closing her eyes, awaiting her inevitable doom, only to open her eyes and seeing that she was still in one piece.

"See, I told you that you didn't have anything to worry about," Ruby proclaimed with pride as she folded Crescent Rose in her compact form.

"You dolt, you could have killed me, I think I lost some years from my life" Now free Weiss got up, starting rambling about the dangers of using Crescent Rose as a glorified 'fix anything tool' as she put her hand over her chest, trying to calm her heart, while she continued talking, Ruby noticed the bags under her eyes, " ? Do I have something in my face?" Weiss stopped once she noticed how Ruby stared at her, Ruby only lowered her head in response.

"I'm sorry for making you all worry" Ruby whispered as she raised her head, meeting Weiss' eyes.

"It couldn't be helped, the enemy this time around was just too strong, it's a good thing that Ozpin was with us," Weiss paused when she saw how Ruby's eyes started watering, after debating inside her head on what to do and seeing how Yang was busy trying to wake up Blake using a broom, she hugged Ruby, "Its ok,nobody was seriously injured, and you are already awake" Weiss could felt how Ruby trembled as she cried in silence, "If you are afraid of that Grimm, I promise that I would protect you" They stayed in that position for a few minutes until they heard the sound of wood breaking, both of them breaking the hug surprised by the sound.

On the other side of the room, Yang was on the floor, with a broken broom in her hands and Blake was awake with Gambol Shroud in hand looking, around the room like she was looking for someone.

"What? Who's there?" Blake was clearly disoriented, her cat ears twitching, like Weiss she also had bags under her eyes.

"It's me Blake, Yang, you know, the most amazing girl in Beacon and the one who almost LOST HER HEAD?!" Yang asked still on the floor, "How many times you have to almost cut me in half before you stop waving your sword as soon as someones wake you?" Yang sounded a little exasperated.

"Ah, hello Yang, I see that they already released you from the hospital" Blake smiled a Yang as she said this, "And why are you on the floor?" now she was clearly making fun of Yang. Before Yang could say anything in response she turned to see Ruby "It's good to have you back Ruby, you had us all worried" Blake hugged Ruby.

"Yeah, let's ignore the person who almost lost her head, it's not like she cares or anything like that" while Yang was getting up Ruby wiped her tears as she separated from Blake.

"Guys, this could be something sudden, but Ozpin wants us to go to his office as soon as possible" Now with her friends together and awake they could begin this super secret mission that Pyrrha mentioned.

"It's really urgent? You and Yang just came back from the hospital, maybe you two should rest and tomorrow we go" Blake was the first one to speak, she wasn't the only one who needed sleep, Weiss refused to leave Ruby during the whole week, she barely slept during that time, and Yang and Ruby aren't in condition to be wandering around.

"As much as I would like to rest on my own bed, for what little I listened it seems that is something serious, it's related to the Grimm that attacked Ruby, Ghost" Everyone in the room had a grim expression.

"Uhh, there is no point in postponing it then, let's go, the faster we deal with this, the sooner we can rest" After that Weiss exited the room, being followed by her friends.

* * *

When team RWBY arrived team JNPR was the only one present, Jaune was covered in bandages, Nora had her arms in slings, Ren was using crutches and had his left leg covered in a cast, Pyrrha was the only one who looked in good shape.

"What happened with you guys, did the Bullhead that transported you crashed or what?" Yang had expression between worried and amused by the state of her friends.

"I wish, Ozpin send Nora, Ren and me to numerous missions to deal with some pretty strong Grimms in the past week" Jaune responded with a tired tone as he remembered the recent events.

"Yeah, first we needed to fight this giant King Taiju, it was so big that it could crush a train, then we needed to clean a nest of Death Stalkers, there was like 5 Alphas, and then we needed to hunt this Manticore that has been terrorizing this village but it ended up being two Manticores" Nora started rambling about their adventures in the past week, she tried to move her arms as she spoke.

"And what about you Pyrrha, you look in better shape than the rest of your team," Yang asked curious to the redhead.

"I went to a different kind of mission, I needed to..." But before Pyrrha could finish the doors of the elevator opened.

"Its good to see you all" Ozpin greeted his students once he entered his office, "I know that you all have questions regarding this mission so I'll try to explain everything" After sitting in his chair, all the students gathered around him "But before anything else, everything that you hear its secret, nobody can learn what you all will hear today, did I make myself clear?" He received nods from his students as an answer.

"Uum, Professor Ozpin, is this related to the Grimm that attacked Ruby right?" Jaune raised his hand as he asked.

"Yes and no" Ozpin could see the confusion in most of his students, "As some of you may know, the creature that attacked Ruby wasn't a Grimm, we aren't yet sure of what it is, but clearly it has some kind of conscious, not only it can plan and improvise, but it also can maintain conversations to a limited degree, it named itself Ghost" Ozpin took a sip of his coffee, taking a pause if any of his students had any doubts, but seeing that nobody was going to speak he continued, now concentrating his gaze on Blake.

"I'm conscious that some of you have gone to the city at night looking for him," Blake's bow twitched when he said this, "While I appreciated your courage, that was probably the worst thing any of you could do, we still don't know how strong Ghost is, before any of you accept this mission remember this, if any of you were to meet Ghost, don't engage, call this number, someone will come and help you" The number appeared in a hologram in his desk, after his students had saved the number he continued.

"We barely know anything about Ghost, but what we know if the following; wherever he appears the temperature decrease, it seems that it can shapeshift, or at least alter its physical appearance to a certain degree, and what probably is the most uncanny characteristic of Ghost, its tendrils and the black veil that covers the rest of its body are nothing more than cloth infused with dust"

"What do you mean by that?" "We fought a person?" "But the things it does are beyond what a semblance could allow" "It's related to the maidens?"His students started speaking at the same time but it was Pyrrha's comment that shut them.

"We aren't sure yet, haa ffuu" Ozpin took a deep breath as he prepared himself, "But as I said, Ghost isn't the main reason why you are all here, Ghost attacked another student before Ruby, Cinder Fall, maybe some of you already know her," He finished his coffee before he continued, "We suspect that the reason why Ghost attacked her it because Cinder and her teammates are responsible for the attack of the Fall Maiden," Ozpin waited to see the reaction of his students once again, better not overwhelm them.

"Aam, by the Fallen Maiden, do you mean the one of the story of the seasons?" Ruby asked confused for what Ozpin was saying, as much as she liked fairytales or how childish she acted sometimes, even she knows that fairytales aren't real.

"Yes Ruby, the story of the seasons, the maidens and their powers, all of that is real" Ozpin watched how his students stood there awestruck, "Cinder and her teammates stole half the powers of the Fall maiden, leaving her in critical condition, to prevent Cinder from stealing the rest of the maiden powers, we had Pyrrha become the new recipient for the rest of the maiden powers, but for that a great price was needed to pay" Ozpin clenched his fists as he was saying this.

"The previous Fallen Maiden was murdered so I could become the next Maiden" Pyrrha said as she glared Ozpin, the hostility in her voice was noticed by everyone in the office, if looks could kill Ozpin would have died a few times already.

"It's as Pyrrha says, for her to become the new maiden, Amber, the previous maiden needed to die," We look in his students was one of horror, "The mission that I want you to take its probably the most dangerous that you will ever take, if I'm honest, I wouldn't normally ask any of you to accept this, but because of the circumstances regarding Ghost and Cinder I have no other option, if you don't accept this mission I'll understand, but if you do keep in mind that there won't be going back to your current life, accepting this mission would mean that you will fight directly against the darkness of our world" After a moment of silence his students didn't say anything, Pyrrha was already part of the mission, but her teammates and friends were another cases.

"Pyrrha, you will fight against them no matter what, right?" Jaune asked, only receiving a nod from Pyrrha as an answer, "In that case, I'm in, what kind of leader would leave his friends?" Jaune smiled at Pyrrha as he said this, taking a step forward with her.

"There is no way we can have Pyrrha protecting our valiant leader all the time, besides this sounds like so much fun! "Nora jumped as she tried to hug Pyrrha with her broken arms.

"If that team are going to hurt innocent people, then there is no way I can say no to this mission, also I can't just leave my friends in their time of need" Ren smiled at Pyrrha and Jaune, taking a step forward as he put his hand in the shoulder of the latter.

"We need to teach those villains a lesson, and if this means that I can kick Ghost ass as payment for what it did to Ruby, then I'm in" Yang hit her fist against themselves, taking a step forward.

"The robbery of dust in the whole kingdom, the White Fang in mountain Glenn, Ghost and now the maidens, I feel that everything is connected, if that its the case I can't turn a blind eye to this, I'm in" Blake took a step forward

"I still have some unresolved business with this Ghost, but I guess I could help in stopping those villains" Weiss smiled at Yang and Blake as she to took a step forward, only to look back a Ruby.

Ruby had a hand in her chest as she tried to relax, accepting would mean that she could fight against Ghost again, she didn't want to admit it but their little encounter has let her scared, there was something about Ghost that terrorized her, her nightmare before waking up coming to her mind, " _If you are afraid of that Grimm, I promise that I would protect you_ ", Weiss' words came to her mind, maybe she said them to stop her from worrying, but still they were what she needed right now.

"I'm in, Ghost, Cinder, Grimms, I can't live knowing that they are out there hurting people, leaving sadness and pain on their way" The memory of her mother almost made her cry, fighting her tears Ruby continued, "I want to be a huntress because I want to help people, I want to be the hero they need when it seems that there is no hope, so they could continue smiling, if that means I have to fight against endless waves of Grimms so be it, there is no way I'll back down" Ruby took a step forward, her sister hug her as she ruffled her hair, Blake putting a hand in her shoulder as she gave her a warm smile, Weiss just looked at them from the distance, but Ruby saw how she had a small smile, and when she saw team JNPR she knew that if it weren't for their injuries they would have tackled her in a hug,

"Oh sis, that was the cheesiest speech you said, and I still remember what you said when you decided that you didn't need training wheels" Ruby could feel her face turn red as Yang 'praised her'

"I'm in a way glad that you all accepted, I don't know what I would have done is none of you hadn't joined this mission, but I also regret having to put this burden in your shoulders" Ozpin pulled a briefcase from under his desk, opening it showing its contents to his students, four metallic collars with a small rectangular device.

"Regarding your mission, first you need to find Cinder and her team and bring them over, Ghost is probably still looking for Cinder so we need to act fast, these collars are designed to suppress Aura and to inflict a small electric current if a maiden were to use her powers, you need to put them those to neutralize them, its urgent that we find them before Ghost, once you have done it we can deal with Ghost later, in the meantime you already know, don't engage with Ghost, " Making sure that his students understood, he continued

"Cinder by virtue of having half the maiden's power she is too dangerous for any of you, because of that only Pyrrha is allowed to fight her, while the rest of you call for reinforcements, Mercury is the son of a famous assassin so don't take him lightly, Emerald its a good fighter, but the rest of her abilities are a mystery, their fourth member is also a complete mystery, she may have some ability to hide her identity so take caution when dealing with her, remember, together they took a fully powered maiden so don't try to be heroes, if you find them try to capture them one by one, but if you find them together call the number that I gave you earlier and try to keep them distracted as long as possible, if none of you have any questions you are free to go, your mission will start when Jaune, Nora, and Ren have healed" as he said that, both teams were about to leave.

"Miss Schnee, Miss Ruby, if you could stay here for a brief moment, there is something I want to speak with both of you in private," giving her sister a reassuring smile Yang and Blake left the office with team JNPR.

"I don't want to sound disrespectful but Ruby just came from the hospital so she probably needs to rest, more now that we are in this mission" Weiss voiced her concerns in an educated manner as she looked at Ozpin.

"I understand your concerns miss Schnee but this is related to Ghost," Ozpin looked at Weiss as he started "During your fight I noticed how it never attacked you no matter what, even when it was concentrated in killing Ruby it only stopped when you intervened, because of that I want to never leave Ruby's side," After finishing he looked to Ruby "And you Ruby, no matter what, never leave her side either, you and Ghost seems to be related in a way, and as you do now, Ghost seems to have its own mission, from our short fight he seems to be unstoppable, but I think that you have the key to its weakness, but before we try anything, first we have to do something with Cinder and confirm a few things, in the meantime, I need you to avoid any danger" After looking at the pair for a moment he continued, "Can I count in both of you?"

"Yes, sir" Ruby declared while she did a military greeting smiling

"Of course, I would have done it without anyone telling me," Weiss said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world "If that's all we'll leave" and with that, she left as she dragged Ruby by her hood "Come on Ruby, we need to plan our itinerate if we are going to be together 24/7"

"Wait really?!, Can we plan a visit to the amusement park?" Ruby seemed excited with the prospect of being together with Weiss.

"I hope this is the right thing to do" Ozpin whispered to himself as he put his head on his hands.

* * *

Cinder currently laid on her back in a makeshift bed in one of her hideouts in Vale, an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of the city close to the Emerald Forest, her left leg wrapped in bandages, a week have already passed and her wound still hasn't healed, for some reason dust entered in her wound and it was making impossible the use of her aura to heal.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to cut your leg? I can always replace it with a prosthesis" Like every single day since the attack of the Shadow, Mercury suggested that she replaced her leg for a prosthesis.

"I already told you that no! I don't want a prosthesis! And I don't want my leg cut! If you and Emerald did your work you would have already found some Doctor to clean my wound!" Cinder was furious, not only her plans were derailing more and more, but her companions ended being a pair of morons who don't know anything that doesn't involve murder or thief, "And where is Neo?! She was supposed to only go for provisions and come back"

"She probably won't come back today, she probably is thinking in a way to betray us, and to make matter worst we can't get rid of her without Roman spilling the beans" Mercury started the maintenance of his legs as he spoke, "There is already 'Wanted' notices with our faces all over the city, we can't even trust our usuals sources, I don't want to say this Cinder, but I think it would be for the best if we retread and rethink our plan"

"NOOOO!" Cinder tried to get up, only to have the pain on her leg bring her down, "You two just understand, there is no going back if we fail here we will be haunted, I'll be haunted" There was fear in Cinder's words, Mercury just stared at her in surprise, this was the second time Cinder showed fear, the first being after the attack of the Shadow.

"I'm back," the door in the warehouse opened as Emerald entered, "I have good news and not so good news", she left some bags that she was carrying in a chair close to her as she approached Cinder, "The good news is that I finally found a Doctor willing to check you Cinder, our funds will take a big hit but you should be ok after he cleans your wound, the other news are related to Adam" Emerald paused as she thought in how "Remember how his men have been disappearing, well, they already found them, or what it was left of them, and for what I have heard on the streets, people have been disappearing in the nights" Emerald looked more nervous with each word she said.

"And you think this is related to the Shadow that attacked me, right?" Cinder looked at Emerald as she bit her nails, "With the Shadow still free and our covert blown up we can't continue with our original plan, there must be something, anything that we could use" Cinder started looking at her scroll searching for anything that she hasn't thought of using.

"Maybe we should try to use the White Fang to attack the city and use that as a distraction to look for the Maiden" Mercury suggested as he finished his maintenance.

"That's probably the stupidest thing that has come out of your mouth, if we try to use the White Fang as cannon fodder there is no way they won't betray us, no matter what Adam does" Emerald retorted to Mercury's plan, after exchanging glares with him she looked back at Cinder "We should use that Grimm as a distraction will we look for the Maiden" She looked earnestly at Cinder while she waited for her answer.

"And who do you think its gonna act as the bait!" Cinder screamed at Emerald, making her cover in fear" And that Shadow isn't a Grimm, it's just too smart, even if it was an Alpha it would have never waited in the dormitory just to kill a single person, and besides, there is no way that a Grimm would attack me," Cinder lowered her head "Salem wouldn't let them" whispering to herself the last bit, as she continued searching in her scroll her eyes fixated in a document she stole from Atlas, a smile appearing on her face "Maybe everything isn't lost yet, you said that the Nikos' semblance is polarity right" she asked Mercury with a seductive tone on her voice.

"Yes, I suppose that she would help us with our plan, right?" Mercury grinned back as he got up.

"Maybe not everything is lost in that case, Mercury, I need you to go and tell Adam to move his men to our hideout in the port, tell them that our plan will begin sooner than expected, Emerald, our little friend Neo has been of so much help to our cause, but she and Roman could comprise our plan if they find that they can get rid of us," Her smile only grew as she continued talking, "but if they were to betray us in our terms we could use it as an opportunity to weaken even further Ozpin, kept an eye on her and made sure she doesn't betray us until the first day of the tournament, make sure that Ironwood is the one receiving the information" Mercury and Emerald left the warehouse, leaving Cinder alone.

"Ha, hahaha hahahahahaahahaha!" Her eyes glowed as she started laughing, it seems that destiny still has something prepared for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I didn't think that It would take longer to write this chapter, it ended up being longer than I expected, I was going to cut Cinder's part but because of how short it was I decided to leave it in the end.  
> Just a little warning for the next chapter, if I don't decide to change anything it should be a little gorier, I would update the tags when I upload it.  
> Without anything else to say, thank you for reading.


	5. Lullaby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, remember when I said that the next chapter would probably be a little gorier? I changed my mind, the reasons are in the end if any of you are interested, meanwhile, please enjoy this chapter.

Team RWBY and JNPR were walking back to their rooms, none of them dared to break the silence in which they were surrounded by, or it was until...

"Aaaaaaa! the Vytal festival!" Ruby suddenly screamed, startling all of her friends.

"What about the Vytal festival?" Weiss angrily asked as she covered her ears.

"How are we going to be at the Vytal festival and search for Cinder at the same time?" Ruby held her head between her hands as she panicked.

"Aaaaaa, you are right, with the incident with Ghost, your time in the hospital and now this I completely forget about the Vytal festival" Now it was Weiss turn to panic, "What are we going to do?! We don't have enough time to train!, and that's without taking into consideration our mission, did Ozpin even gave us permission to skip classes?!" She was soon hyperventilating.

Come on guys, relax, we can always ask Ozpin tomorrow, besides we only need to find Cinder, right? It can't be that..."Yang tried to shrug it off but a pair of hands stopped her from continuing speaking.

"Don't say it, if you finish that phrase you will jinx us all!" Jaune was behind Yang, covering her mouth with his hands, he had a look of panic on his face. Yang easily removed his hands and tossed him to the side.

"Like I was saying, we only have to find Cinder, it can't take us more than a week, remember that I have my connections, Blake has already proved to be good at tracking secret groups, Weiss can always use her resources as the heiress of the SDC and Ruby... Ruby can..." Yang stared at her sister as she thought of a position for her sister, "give emotional support?" Yang asked her sister, she didn't look amused by the suggestion.

"And with us helping this will be a piece of pancake!" Nora tried to jump over Yang but with her broken arms she only ended up bumping her, "You'll see by Monday we are going to be back to full form"

"Better go and rest then, this has been a really eventful day and I could use some sleep" Blake suggested as she opened the door of their room.

"Hey guys, would you like to do something tomorrow? You know to get rid of the nerves," Yang asked to team JNPR before they could enter their room.

"Sorry Yang, I promised Nora to help her upgrade her weapon" Ren apologized as he entered the room "Goodnight guys"

"Yeah, just wait and see, when I upgrade Magnhild, it doesn't matter if its Cinder or some ghost, I'll send them all flying right to the moon." Nara had a big mischievous grin on her face. All her friends feel at that moment chills go down their backs.

"Yeah sorry Yang, I promised Jaune that I was going to go with him to the blacksmith," Pyrrha tried to hide her blush by looking to anywhere but Yang or Jaune, while Jaune gives Yang an apologetic smile.

"Ok, night guys," Yang and the rest of team RWBY said their goodbyes as they entered their room, "Ok, so its gonna be just us, girls night what did you all say?" Yang saw Blake enter the bathroom while Ruby and Weiss grabbed their pajamas and their toiletries.

"Yeeeaah, no, sorry Yang, I was in a coma for a week and Weis won't let me leave without copying the notes of the classes that I missed" Ruby's face contorted to one of suffering.

"And since when did you obey her?" Yang was amused by her sister's answer, Ruby always treated Weiss' orders more like suggestions, but Ruby's reaction wasn't what she was expecting, instead of giving her a smile or a small growl, Ruby just stared at the floor while she clutched her fist and her eyes started to leaking "Is there something wrong Ruby?" a look of concern appeared on her face, Ruby isn't the kind of person to look this distressed for a little joke.

"It's only that..." Ruby looked at Weiss for a moment, only to get closer to Yang as she whispered in her ear, "Ozpin said that while Ghost seems obsessed with me, they avoid attacking Weiss at all, so now I need to be together with Weiss 24/7" she wiped her eyes before she started to cry.

"And now she is bullying you? is she mistreating you?" Yang's eyes turned red as she looked at Weiss who was distracted checking her notes.

"Nononononono, nothing like that, it's kinda cool, she said that once I finish with this we could go to the town and relax before the mission," A face of worry appeared on Ruby as she quickly tried to calm down her sister before she threw Weiss through the window, "It's only that, I don't want anyone protecting me, I'm a huntress, I'm supposed to do the protecting no the other way around, and above else I'm the team leader" She looked at the ground while her face contorted in an angry expression.

"Oooh, sis" Yang hugged her sister before she started to cry, "I can't probably understand how you may feel, but please remember, there is nothing wrong in relying on your friends, please don't go and pull a 'Blake' on us" Her last remark make Ruby give a small laugh.

"Did you call" Blake exited the bathroom now in her pajamas and a towel over her head.

"Oh, Blake good timing, do you have plans for tomorrow, those two nerds are going to be busy studying" Yang broke the hug when once she saw Blake come.

"Hey!" Both Ruby and Weiss screamed in unison.

"I was planning to go to the bookstore, why? do you wanted to go somewhere?" Blake sat on her bed as she finished drying her hair.

"I was planning to do something to lift the moral, but it seems that everyone is busy" Yang started to grab her pajamas and her towel once Ruby was to her usual mood.

"Well, I wasn't going to do anything in particular save for going to the bookstore, so if you want to go somewhere I could consider it," Blake said with a teasing tone as she hides her mouth with one of her books.

"Hey guys, Ozpin sent us a message,  _'Dear students, considering your mission you are free from classes during the duration of this, you also will receive funds for your mission, if you were to need anything else or have any questions, please contact me through this number, without anything else to say, Good luck - Professor Ozpin'_ , well we don't need to worry about the school for a while," Weiss finished reading the message, only to grab the towel her pajamas and her toiletries and spring towards the bathroom.

"Oh come on!, I was going to use the bathroom" Yang screamed as she started to knock the bathroom's door.

" _'PS. Once the mission is over I hope that you will catch up with the material watched in class during your absence'_ " Ruby read Ozpin's message in her scroll, her right eye twitched as she imagined all the homework she will have to do.

* * *

After everyone finished bathing they went to sleep, but a certain girl with silver eyes woke up with sweet all over her body, "It's ok, it's ok, it was only a nightmare" Ruby tried to relax but she was too afraid of going back to sleep, "Weiss, are you awake?" Ruby peeked out from underneath her bed, only to saw Weiss' bed empty "Yang?" she called her sister, receiving a snore as an answer.

"Do you need something Ruby" Blake called from her bed, turning around to see Ruby.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you out" Ruby showed her an apologetic smile "I couldn't sleep so I was bored".

"Don't worry, I couldn't sleep either" Even in the dark of the night Ruby saw how Blake showed her a smile, "So, do you wanted to talk about something?"

"No, no, I just..." Ruby trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"After you went into a coma we were really worried, Yang tried to sneak into your room one too many times, they needed to handcuff her to the bed" Blake laughed as she remembered how Yang looked the morning she went to visit her, her hands and feets were handcuffed to the corners of the bed, "Weiss refused to leave your side, she even refused to go and eat even if there was someone else in the room, 'How could I leave her? What if something happens and I'm not here' that was what she said every time we tried to tell her that she needed to go and rest, once I saw Pyrrha I told her if she could keep you company while I tied Weiss to her bed, I'm surprised that she hasn't tried to do something." Blake got up of her bed as she walked to the window, staring to the outside.

"With you and Yang in the hospital, and Weiss refusing to leave you, I didn't know what I should do, so I thought that if I hunted Ghost, that maybe you will suddenly wake up," Blake laughed a little, she turned to Ruby, "Maybe I have been reading to many fantasy novels," Blake scratched her head, as Ruby stared at her with a curious expression "What I'm trying to say is that we all feel powerless, even though we were together we couldn't do anything to help you, so please, let us help you, Ruby, don't go an pull a 'Blake' on us" Blake smiled as she said the last.

Ruby just stared in silence as she stared at her, her lower lips quivering, "The day that I woke up I had a nightmare, I was in some land of darkness, and everything felt so real, and..." Ruby stopped as she tried to compose herself, breathing in and out, "and I was a top of a mountain of corpses, and I think I meet Ghost, a version of him, before I fell into a coma when I was fighting them, I think I feel Ghost emotions, they were angry, they were in despair, and they hate me, I didn't know someone could hate anyone with that much intensity," As Ruby spoke she started to tremble more and more, until she had to stop.

"I'm scared Blake, when I went to sleep Ghost was there, waiting for me, I'm scared, if I was able to see inside of him, does that mean that they did the same?" Ruby was starting to breath harder, her pupils dilated.

"Ruby, can you climb down for a moment," Blake asked her in a serious tone, with a little bit of hesitation Ruby climbed down from her bed, she was taken aback when Blake suddenly hugged her, "Do you feel any better?"

"I feel that I have been hugged all day, not that I'm complaining," And before any of them could react the door of their bedroom opened, Weiss locked them with a raised eyebrow, "Weiss!" Ruby suddenly broke the hug as she looked at Weiss nervously.

"Ruby couldn't sleep so I tried to calm her down, where have you been by the way?" Blake asked her, deflecting Weiss attention from Ruby to herself, better avoid another panic attack.

"Someone clogged our toilet, so I had to go to the gym's bathrooms," Weiss said as she glanced at Yang who was still snoring, she was irritated if her tone of voice was any indication, "So you couldn't sleep ah, should I be worried? She was now glancing at Ruby

"No, Blake already took care of that, thanks" Ruby gave a nervous smile to Weiss and a warm one to Blake as she thanked her.

"There is no need for that, that's what friends are for" As Blake returned to her bed she looked to her friends for a moment, "Now that Weiss is here to kept you company I think I could probably try to get some sleep" she plugged her earplugs before she went to sleep.

"Sooo, do you want to talk about that?" Weiss asked Ruby as the two of them stared at each other.

"Maybe later, I'm a little tired, still, thanks for asking" Ruby give her a sheepish smile.

"Still, if you need me I'll be here," Weiss said as she went to her bed without expecting an answer.

As Ruby climbed her bed, the fear of dreaming with Ghost returned once again, "Actually, can I ask you a favor?" Ruby climbed down her bed as she rested her head on the border of Weiss' bed.

"What kind of favor?" Weiss eyed her with suspicion on her voice.

"Can I sleep with you for tonight? It will only for tonight I promise" Ruby put her hands together in a sign of prayer as she closed her eyes.

"Ruby Rose!, are you..." Weiss was about to start screaming to her partner until she noticed how Ruby's body was trembling, " _she's, afraid?_ " she thought, "I'm gonna regret this" Weiss whispered to herself as she looked at Ruby who was still with her eyes closed, "Yes, but only for tonight, and I hope you don't kick in your sleep" Weiss moved as she makes some space in her already small bed.

"Thank you, thank you, Weiss, you are the best" Ruby almost tackled Weiss in a hug, only refraining of doing so as she noticed the frown in Weiss' face.

"Of course I'm the best" Weiss responded with a smug smile, "Goodnight Ruby".

"Goodnight Weiss" Ruby said as she prepared to sleep, but no matter how hard she tried, the fear was still there.

"My mom used to sing me a song when I was afraid, would you like to hear it?" Weiss asked her as she noticed how Ruby was still trembling in fear

"Hugs and songs on the same day, somebody is acting extra kind today," Ruby said with a teasing voice as she glanced at Weiss, "Yes Weiss, I would love to".

"Hey, I'm always kind, in my own way" Weiss replied with an indignant tone "Just one thing, if Yang or Nora or anyone else learns about this, I promise that you will return to the hospital," Weiss said in a menacing voice, making sure that her threat didn't fall in deaf hears, she took a little bit of air as she prepared to sing, Ruby just stared at her with anticipation on her eyes.

" _Do you understand what I am saying?_

_Are you crying because you are scared of me?_

_Why is it you point up into the sky?_

_Is it because you've realized_

_That one day we will go there?_

_Don't be afraid, cause we'll be together._

_Together with me over the path that leads to the sky. Come now…_

_Overhead is a moonless sky, raining with stars._

_Glittering here and there they shine over all that you are._

_The depths of your eyes filled with an unspeakably infinite color,_

_Even without words, I feel you are looking down on me._

_Ah, holding within you a color too cold for you to be called pure,_

_It's as if you've already decided you won't be any part of this world._

_But is that not just,_

_A symbol of longing for what you can never have?_

_Even if I were to use the word 'love', and whisper in your ear,_

_It would not replace that which you will one day seek_

_"Live, without seeking 'love'"_

_For you, a life of purity we wish with all our hearts._

_For, after all, I have no say in the matter…_

_I am only just mechanically, "dutifully", doing what has been decided._

_If they would allow me to send you along with just one of my feelings,_

_It would be, now that you've been born, for you to live your life to its fullest._

_Ah, as a savior, being told to live as "a bridge between us",_

_Exactly who is it that "owns" your life?_

_But is that not just,_

_Another name for a fate to hate everything?_

_Even if I were to use the word "love", and you were to understand me,_

_It would not replace that which you will one day seek._

_"Live, without searching for 'love'"_

_For you, a life of righteousness we wish with all our hearts._

_If one day, you were to stop in your tracks for lack of "love",_

_I wish I would be the one given the task of removing your yoke._

_Your name was given with the understanding that you, living a life to fulfill_

_Our hidden desires, "would have no need to search for love"._

_…but it that not just,_

_What does it mean to be named?_

_But one thing_

_At the very least is certain_

_You were given a name._

_Is that not firm proof that in you I've placed my 'love'?_

_Even if one day you come to be called_

_By something other than your name,_

_Even so, no one, no one can take your name away from you._

_Holding 'love' close to my chest,_

_Now, we cross over, into fantasy, where my 'dreams' will be."_

Once Weiss finished singing she noticed how Ruby was already asleep, a tear threatening with escaping "Goodnight Ruby" Weiss cleaned the tear from Ruby's face as she closed her eyes, her own tears were threatening to escape too as she remembered when her mother sang her songs.

Meanwhile Ruby didn't dream with Ghost, instead, she dreamed with a beautiful woman she didn't remember meeting before, she wore a pendant with the form of a crescent moon and a blue crystal on the center, she gave her a small smile before she disappeared, and even though she didn't know why, Ruby couldn't help but cry from happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it here, thank you for reading, originally I was planning on something completely different, but I realized that I was only jumping from plot point to plot point without developing the relationships, so I decided to slow down the pacing, the original chapter 5 is already written it only needs a little polishing, so that means I could shorten the time between updates in the future. By the way, the name of the song is [Name for the love'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgtiOz0iJVA) by RD Sounds


	6. Uneventful Sunday

"Ugh, what time is it?" Yang woke up as the first rays of sunlight entered their room, she pulled out her scroll from her pillow and looked at it, "7:27 of the morning? Uwaa these arent hours to be awake," A growl came out of her when she dropped her scroll onto her face, after spending a few moments contemplating her thoughts she rolled over her stomach as she looked to the other side of the room, "Hey Rubes, are you awake? Ruby?" Yang jumped out of her bed when she noticed her sister's bed empty, she could feel her blood pumping faster, her breathing became more erratic and she started to panic, "Blake, We...," She was about to wake her friends until she finally found her sister, in Weiss' bed, snuggling with each other, her expression of anxiety was replaced for a grin, she grabbed her scroll and pointed it towards the pair.

* * *

Weiss felt how her conscious returned to her as she started to wake up, she would normally open her eyes and start her day as soon as the sun raised, but she felt too comfortable at the moment, " _Just five more minutes,_ " she thought while she tried to pull her pillow closer to her, " _When did I buy a thermal pillow?_ " the thought confused her as she noticed how her pillow started to move and the smell roses filled her nostrils.

"Umm, Weiss?" Ruby's voice sounded really close, too close. Weiss opened her eyes and stared to silver eyes, she could feel how the temperature in her face increased as she realized that her 'pillow' was actually Ruby, "Weiss please don't...," while Ruby's face was as red as her namesake, she was more worried about Weiss reaction, but before she could defuse the situation, it was too late.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING DOLT?!" Weiss screamed as she pushed Ruby from her bed, but because of how sudden was the motion she also ended falling from her bed, she tried to control her breathing and get rid of her blush but the sound of a camera deconcentrated her.

"Hahahahhahahhaha ahahha, you should... you should have seen you ahhahaah...your face, oh my sides hahahaha," Yang was rolling on her bed as she laughed, taking small breaks as she tried to recover her breath, " ohahaohhaha I can't, I can't breathe."

"YANG XIAO LONG GIVE MY THAT SCROLL IN THIS INSTANT!" Weiss screamed as she got up, her face still red but now with an angry expression.

"CAN EVERYONE SHUT UP IM TRYING TO SLEEP!" And now was Blake the one who screamed, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang shut up as they look at her with fear on their faces, "Thank you!" And with that, she went back to sleep.

"Someone is a little grumpy uh." Yang climbed down from her bunk bed, landing beside Weiss.

"You better sleep with an eye open," Weiss growled at Yang as she grabbed her toiletries and her towel as she marched towards the bathroom, "Ruby!"

"Yes, ma'am." Ruby got up while doing a military salute.

"Grab your stuff, we will start with your homework early," Weiss glanced at Ruby one last time before she entered the bathroom, "But first let's grab breakfast, after that, we won't stop after we finish." She said in a more gentle tone, the memories of how Ruby ended in her bed finally returned once she had calmed down, and after that, she left Ruby and Yang alone.

"Sooo, do I need to worry that my lil sis climbing the steps of adulthood right beneath my nose?" Yang wiggled her eyebrows at Ruby as she grinned.

"Wh..what? I don't have any idea what you are talking about," Ruby stuttered as she blushed once again, "Weiss was just helping me with a little something," Ruby's voice got quieter as she spoke.

"What little something?" Yang's grin only grew even wider, "Do we need to have 'The Talk'?"

"...ad ...are," Ruby whispered as she looked at her feet.

"What was that?" Yang got closer to Ruby as she tried to listen to the whisper.

"That I had a nightmare!" Ruby screamed in her sister's ear, causing Yang to jump back and to have Blake throw a pillow to Yang's face.

"Last warning, the next thing will be something sharper" Blake hid her head with her blankets as she returned to sleep.

"Ok I think we should try lower our voices," Yang rubbed her ear as she looked at Blake, but as she turned to see her sister, she adopted a more serious expression, "Soooo, a nightmare, what was about this time? Should we talk about it? Only if you are ok with that." Her gaze relaxed as she tried to give Ruby a comforting smile.

"No its...," Ruby tried to gloss over the subject but when she saw how her sister's smile faltered for a split-second, she remembered what her sister and Blake told her yesterday, "When I woke up in the hospital I had a nightmare, I woke up in a pile of corpses and...," Ruby remembered her fear as she tried to retell her nightmare, but before she could continue her Yang embraced her in a hug and stroke her hair, "Ghost was there and they tried to kill me, yesterday I had the same nightmare but I realized that for some reason I can feel their emotions and that maybe they are the same, and I'm scared." Even though she feels scared, being hugged by her sister calmed her down.

"Shhh, it's ok, if we were to meet Ghost again, I promise that I'll protect you, I won't even let a single tentacle of them touch a lock of your hair," Yang rubbed her sister back as she tried to calm her, "But that doesn't explain why you and Weiss shared a bed." Ruby tried to hide her blush by using her sister' chest

"I was kinda scared, so I didn't want to sleep alone" Ruby almost whispered as she continued hugging her sister.

"While I'm kinda hurt that you choose the Ice queen over your own blood" Yang broke the hug to look at her sister, "I'm happy that you look better than I would expect considering what an awful experience you had, and if you have another nightmare, don't hesitate on waking me up"

"Thanks, Yang." Ruby once again hugged her sister.

"Don't sweat it, you can always count on me," After a few seconds the bathroom's door opened, Weiss exited now in her usual attire.

"Except on this, I'm next." And before Ruby could react, Yang shoved her aside as she grabbed her toiletries and her towel and ran towards the bathroom.

* * *

"Aaaaahhh! I can't do this anymore if I have to write another report my fingers will come off," Ruby screamed as she kicked under the desk and looked towards the ceiling, there were various books in front of her, "I can feel how my head it's going to explode if I continue studying."

"Don't be such a crybaby, you have barely done the half." Weiss scold her from her bed, she was reading a report about some new experimental Dust.

"Aagg, somebody, please kill meeee!" Ruby slammed her head against the book in front of her. She continued in this position until she heard the door open, she turned her head to look at the door and saw Yang enter with a dog in her arms

"Zwei!" Both Ruby and Weiss screamed in unison, Weiss ran towards Yang as she grabbed Zwei and started to spin him around in her arms, meanwhile Ruby found herself glued to her chair, a black glyph stopped her from getting up and hug Zwei.

"That's not fair! he is my dog! I have more rights than you to play with him!" Ruby whined as she swayed her chair, Wiess ignored her as she continued to spoil Zwei.

"Finish your homework first and we may talk," Weiss gave Ruby a smug smile as she pulled Zwei closed to her face, he licked her nose in response, "Who's a wood woy? whos a wood woy? you are a wood woy, oh I missed you so much" Weiss cradled Zwei as she talked to him like he was a baby.

"Oh thank you for bringing Zwei, Yang, how was your day? Did CVFY treat you well?" Yang murmured to herself while she stood under the door's frame, "Yeah thanks for asking, if you need me I'll be in the city, dorks." without waiting for an answer Yang left the two girls alone.

"Zwei, come with mommy, Zwei? Zweiiiiiii!" Ruby screamed in anguish as her own dog betrayed her.

* * *

"Are you INSANE!? One thing is letting Pyrrha's friends know about the maidens, but to also involucrate more people into this?" Ironwood slammed his fist onto Ozpin's desk, "And to top it all off, you are sending them all to search for Amber's assailants?" Ozpin didn't even flinch at Ironwood's anger, he just took another sip of his coffee while he stared at him.

"Believe me, if it was for me their biggest preoccupation would be their tests scores, but I can't personally do anything because the council is watching all my moves if they were to know about the maidens I don't think they would resist the temptation to use their powers," Ozpin spoke with a solemn tone.

Ironwood flinched as he avoided Ozpin stare at the mention of the council, " _This is my fault,_ " He couldn't help but feel guilty.

"We know that Cinder is here, my students will search for her, and when they find her you will send your troops to apprehend her," Ozpin got up of his chair, he turned around to star to the window behind him, "I'm not planning to send my students to die, neither I'm planning to give her the rest of the maiden's powers, and right now they are probably the best suited to search for her," Ozpin paused as he turned around to meet Ironwood's gaze.

"Is this related to this Ghost that attacked last week? You only told me how powerful they were, how he almost killed Cinder and Ruby, and from the footage, I can understand why they need to be stoped, but why is he so important for this mission?" Ironwood asked confused, as far as he knew Ghost was just a Grimm that could speak.

"Ghost, he seems to be hunting down Salem's minions, Cinder is one of them, but there is something strange about him," Ozpin looked confused, as far as Ironwood knew this was the first time he looked so distressed, "While he attacked Cinder like she was just another prey on her checklist, his reaction to Ruby was different, as far as I know, he would drop everything to get a chance to kill her, and to make things more confusing, not only he knows about Salem, he also knows my original name, I know too little about him and he seems to know everything about...us." he trailed off as pieces from this jigsaw filled his mind.

"And how he searching for Cinder could help us?" Ironwood tried to change the topic when he noticed how Ozpin seemed concerned.

"Uh? Oh right, with Ghost searching for her, I don't think that Cinder will risk exposing herself, that means that she will remain in Vale hiding, and she doesn't know about our new maiden, as far as she knows Amber still has the Maiden's powers, she won't expect an attack from our Maiden, and with Team RWBY searching for her not only we expand our search area, but we can also buy some time before Ghost's next attack, his attention will be divided between his two targets, our only downside is that we depend on Cinder maintaining a low profile, if she makes a move we will have to fight Ghost and Cinder at the same time." Ozpin explained his plan as he sat on his chair again.

"And why don't we let them fight and we finish off the winner? That seems like the most obvious solution."

"I would like to interrogate Cinder, even though her documents are fake and she seems suspicious we can't be sure that she is Amber's assailant, and even if she was that doesn't necessarily mean that she works for Salem, and honestly if Ghost wins, we cant be sure that we could defeat him, that means that when he escapes we won't be able to predict his next move, as long as Cinder is alive we can somewhat know what he could do," Ozpin drank from his mug as he stared to some papers on his desk, a puzzled look appeared on his face "Have you had news from Arslan?" Ironwood was taken aback by the question.

"No, now that you mention it, no, no I haven't heard from him, and he isn't here right?" Ironwood now had a confused expression, he put his hand on his chin as he started to think, "He always comes with his students to the Vytal Festival, he never missed it, not even when he was so sick that he couldn't distinguish between Qrow and a plant." He couldn't help but chuckle at the memory.

"Yes, he then threw up all over my favorite chair," A small smile escaped from Ozpin, "I'll have Qrow investigate if something happened to him." His tone of voice showed his concern about the fate from one of his most closed friends.

"Don't bother, it would be more convenient for us to have him here, I'll send one of my specialists to bring him here," Ironwood stopped Ozpin before he could text Qrow, "Let me correct my mistakes, it's my fault that you can't move" Ozpin nodded in response, maybe they could find a clue for this mystery through Arslan.

* * *

"Screwdriver!" A zippy female voice asked inside the armory on Beacon, the owner of said voice extended her left hand, while her right hand was in a sling.

"Screwdriver," A more calmed male responded as he handed her the screwdriver.

"Hammer!"

"Hammer,"

"Lightning Dust!"

"Lightning Dust,"

"More lightning Dust!"

"More Lightning Dust,"

"MORE LIGHTNING DUST!" The girl screamed, she took the boy by his collar as she shook him, his mullets dropped from the sudden action.

"Nora I think that's enough Dust," Ren tried to calm Nora down to no avail.

"You don't get it, I need more dust or Magnhild won't be strong enough!" Nora released Ren as she grabbed the dust.

"I don't think that Magnhild will be able to withstand a single hit if you use too much Dust," Ren got up as he saw the insane amount of dust Nora used in her weapon, but before he could say anything a beastly growl resonated inside the armory.

"Hehe, I think that we spend so much time here that we forgot to eat," Nora gave Ren a sheepish smile as a blush creeps onto her face.

"Let's go, maybe the cafeteria is already serving food," Ren opened the door as he waited for Nora.

They walked towards the cafeteria together, when they entered the armory the sky was still painted with the colors of the dawn, now the sun was at his highest point, the cafeteria was almost empty, a few students were eating or talking, while they searched for a place to sit they spotted certain girl with a cape with her head resting on one of the tables.

"Hey, it's Ruby, Ruby!" Nora carried Ren over her shoulder and grabbed his mullets with her free hand, she ran towards Ruby as she screamed and waved to her friend, the aforementioned just turned her head around to look who was calling her, "Oh gosh, you look...awful," Nora paused as she thought in her choice of words, Ruby only growled in annoyance.

"What happened? Did you even sleep last night?" Ren asked worried as he and Nora sat in front of Ruby.

"Contrary to what most people believe Creeps are faster than Beowolfs," Ruby blurted out of nowhere, Nora and Ren looked at her in confusion.

"Eeeeeh, what?" Nora raised an eyebrow as a response to the odd answer of her friend.

"Argus is one of the biggest non-capital cities of- ouch!" Before Ruby could finish Weiss gave her a little smack on the head after she placed a tray with salad on the table.

"Please ignore her, apparently studying so much 'fried her brain'," Weiss said as she air-quoted Ruby's words after she placed another tray with a bowl of strawberries with cream in front of Ruby, "Maybe if someone didn't take a break every five minutes she would have finished long ago," Weiss put emphasis on her voice as she gives an angry glare at Ruby, Ruby only stuck out her tongue in response as she bit another strawberry and tossed the calyx to Weiss, "Heeey!" Weiss in response tossed a baby tomato to Ruby, both of them were ready to start throwing more food until someone smacked the table with a riding crop.

"Ehhh!" Both girls screamed in surprise to the sudden song.

"Children, should I remind you to not play with your Food," Professor Goodwitch gave the girls a forced smile that sends chills down the spine of everyone in the table.

"N-no that won't be necessary," Weiss stuttered, "Why did you stutter? You are a Schnee," she reprimanded herself, after taking a deep breath she continued, "We will make sure to avoid causing any ruckus," Professor Goodwitch just nodded in response as she continues observing the rest of the tables.

"Wasn't she extra scary today? For a moment I thought she would send us to the dungeon" Nora wiped some sweat that formed on her forehead.

"Um, I don't think I have seen her this angry since some of Professor Port's Grimm escaped from their cages." Weiss shuddered at the memory of that day, it was a miracle that Professor Port was still alive.

"According to some ancient texts found in the south of Anima, apparently, there was an island that sank a long time ago at the south of the continent." Weiss rolled her eyes at the antics of her partner while both of them continue to eat

"That's just a rumor, there is no way that a dungeon exists under the school and nobody has found it yet, but yes, she seemed kinda stressed," Ren got up from his seat, "Is there anything in specific that you want to eat or should I bring you the usual?" Ren asked her with a calm smile on his face.

"The usual, please!" Nora smiled, Ren departed leaving the three girls alone, "Hey Weiss you are an expert when it comes to Dust, right?"

Weiss covered her mouth as she finished chewing before answering to Nora, "Yes, is there anything you would like to know?" She smiled at the idea of showing her vast knowledge of Dust.

"Yeah, hypothetically speaking, what would happen if I combined Lightning Dust and Gravity Dust?" Weiss stared at Nora with an expression of terror for a moment before she composed herself.

"There are two possible scenarios, one, you will rip your arms, or two, you got stuck to whatever was that you hit, should I be worried?" While Weiss was speaking Ren arrived with two trays being balanced over the other, he placed a tray with a mountain of pancakes and a ball of ice cream as big as an apple in front of Nora, and another with soup in front of his chair.

"Naaah, it's just a hypothetical question," Nora tried to downplay her question as she waved her hand, only to lean closer to Ren and whisper to him "We won't need the Gravity Dust after all," while all this conversation happened Ruby listened to everything with stars in her eyes, something that didn't go unnoticed by Nora, "Hey Ruby, want to help us finish our weapons?"

"Yes!" Ruby slammed her hands on the table as she stood up, almost throwing her bowl on her lap, "I mean umm," Ruby looked at Weiss like she was asking permission.

Weiss stared at her as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Ok, but after that, we won't stop until you have finished with all your schoolwork" Weiss sighed exasperated, only to smile a little, "Besides it would be a good idea to give some maintenance to Myrtenaster," Ruby and Nora almost leave her and Ren deaf with their screams.

* * *

"Thanks for lending me money Pyrrha, I wouldn't have been able to have my weapons ready for tomorrow," Jaune and Pyrrha were inside the dorms building walking towards their's, "Umm Pyrrha? Are you listening?" Jaune asked once he realized how Pyrrha was moving her mouth as if she was speaking with someone.

"Uh? Oh sorry, I was thinking about something...probably," Pyrrha whispered the last one, "What was that you were saying?" She asked Jaune as she gave him a reassuring smile.

"That's not important right now, what is going on Pyrrha? You have been like this the whole day," Jaune stopped dead on his tracks as he looked at Pyrrha with worry on his eyes.

"Its okay Jaune, there is nothing to worry about, I'm just a little nervous from our mission, that's all" Pyrrha turned around to see Jaune, and while she tried to reassure him that there was nothing wrong, he continued to glare at her with worry and sadness.

"Pyrrha what's wrong? Please tell me, you have been weird the whole week, sudden mood switch, you have been spacing out during classes, and Nora says that she heard you talking alone, Ren and Nora are also worried for you," Jaune walked towards her as he spoke, once he was at arms distance he placed his hand on her shoulder, "No matter what it is, I assure you that we'll help you."

"Jaune I...," Pyrrha's mask finally came off for a moment, but something stopped her before she could speak, a voice inside her head, a voice that wasn't hers.

" _Don't tell him, he won't understand, if you tell him who knows what could happen,_ " the voice inside her head was of an adult woman, she spoke with fear.

_"He would understand, sure he would be a little weirded out, but I trust him,"_  Pyrrha answered inside her mind.

_"Maybe him, but what about the rest, what do you think would happen if someone else was to know, like that guy Cardin, or General Ironwood, or some mad scientist, we will be throw in some asylum, experimented or ostracized,"_  The words of the other voice seed doubt inside her mind, " _Its for the better, you already have a big target painted on your back, better not add another one, when this is over maybe we should tell them, but for now better kept this as our little secret,"_  The voice was clearly worried about her, but in a different way compared to her friends.

" _At least Jaune, if I don't tell someone I think I will go crazy,_ " Pyrrha implored to the voice inside of her, she didn't even know why she asked permission to the voice inside of her, she was the one in control, she could do whatever she wanted.

No, she knew why she asked for permission to the intruder inside of her head, it was because she could be right, the voice had the experience that she lacked, she already taught her so much, and she was afraid of that, afraid of losing her friends.

The whole conversation inside of Pyrrha head ended in a few seconds, Pyrrha removed Jaune's hand from her shoulder and held it, "I'll tell you when this is over, but for now, please trust me when I say that this isn't something serious, its only that I have a few things inside," She gently squeezed Jaune's hand, a small crept on their faces, "We better go now, Ren and Nora must be worried."

"Ok, but I'll make sure that you keep that promise," And with that, both of them walked towards their room, with a smile on their faces, but for a few moments Pyrrha's smile faltered.

"I can hear Amber's voice!" Pyrrha blurted, she knew that Amber was mentally face-palming, she wasn't the only one.

"I'm sorry, I think I had something in my ear, what was that?" Jaune picked his ears with his fingers, looking at Pyrrha with a confused expression on his face.

"After I received the Maiden's powers I started to hear Amber's voice, at first it was a whisper, barely audible, but the more time passed the clearer her voice became, right now I can even have entire conversations with her," Pyrrha had her eyes closed as she spoke, she ended out of breath as she tried to explain everything as fast as possible, it was a good thing they were alone, when she opened her eyes she saw Jaune with a stupefied expression on his eyes, "I told you," Amber said inside her mind.

"That is... AWESOME! Do you know what this means, we can revive her by extracting her aura back and put it in a new body, this could end saving thousands of lives!" Jaune screamed in excitement, Pyrrha felt how her knees tremble, he didn't think she was nuts or a freak, Amber was wrong, her friends would never abandon her, "We had to tell to everyone, I had to call Ozpin," Pyrrha eyes widened in fear at the notion of Ozpin knowing.

"Nooooo! we can't tell him!" Pyrrha screamed in anger, but her tone of voice was different and her eyes flicked to a brown color for a few seconds, "If we were to tell him, who knows what he would do to us, you don't know what he is capable," Jaune noticed her sudden personality change, he looked at her with worry, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scream at you, but right now I don't trust Ozpin, I don't think I could," Pyrrha sighed, even if she wanted to trust Ozpin, the things that Amber told her made her doubt Ozpin's intentions, "Lets tell Nora and Ren, and when this is over we tell the rest," Pyrrha gave a small smile that Jaune returned.

"Deal, but we better go, we have already made Ren and Nora wait for us for too long, we can continue our conversation once they are filled in," Neither of them noticed how they held each other hands.

* * *

"Ooh, ok that's bad." Ruby was resting on her bed while she read a message in her scroll, she was already in her pajamas and was cuddling with Zwei.

"What is bad?" Weiss came out of the bathroom in her nightgown and a towel in her hair, "Another message from Ozpin?" she asked curiously as she finished drying her hair and sat on her bed,

"Worst, Yang got really wasted and she and Blake ended up losing the last ship to school," Ruby said with a nervous smile, "We'll meet in front of Pizza's Sunset with Jaune and the others," Weiss hummed in response.

"Of course, the brute of your sister will do something like this the night before our mission, and to make matters worse it seems that is going to rain, if she or Blake catch a cold we will be weaker," Weiss sighed as she stared at the window "Well, we better go to sleep, tomorrow we have our mission and who knows what will await us tomorrow," Weiss turned off the lights as she covered herself in her blankets, with Ruby doing the same.

"Night Weiss," Ruby cuddled closer to Zwei.

"Goodnight Ruby," Weiss closed her eyes as slumber took her.

In the middle of the night, the sound of thunder woke Weiss up, she placed her hand over her chest as she tried to relax, "That was really close."

The sound of someone sobbing become clearer once she completely woke up, she sharpened her sense to locate where the sound came from.

"Oh no," Weiss covered her mouth with her hands once she noticed where the sound came from, Ruby was crying in her sleep, and even though she had Zwei to keep her company it wasn't enough, "Goddammit Yang! why you do this when your sister needs you the most?" Weiss cursed, without Yang here she didn't know how to stop Ruby from crying, Weiss climbed Ruby's bunk and started shaking her "Ruby, Ruby wake up!" Weiss raised a little her voice to woke her up, but it didn't matter how much she shook her or how loud she spoke, Ruby didn't wake up.

"Please..., don't leave me," Ruby said in her dreams, more tears started rolling from her eyes, and Weiss couldn't do anything but watch.

"Woof!" Zwei woke up and barked to Weiss, once she looked back at him she saw how Zwei left Ruby's side and jumped out of the bunk, "Woof! Woof" Zwei barked one last time, he walked towards his bed and went back to sleep, his intentions reached Weiss.

"You are really a smart puppy Zwei," Weiss said with a baby voice as she smiled towards Zwei, "Thank the goddesses that Yang isn't here," she whispered to herself, she laid besides Ruby, she didn't know if this was going to help Ruby, but it worked last time, maybe it would work a second time.

"Ah? whos there?" Ruby asked as she woke up when she noticed a presence beside her.

"Shh, it's me, you had another nightmare," Weiss hushed her before Ruby panicked from her sudden action, "Go back to sleep, I will be by your side if you need anything," she spoke with a gentle tone as she good closer to Ruby.

"Thank you," Ruby sleepily said, without some comment or a childish remark, she clearly wasn't fully awake, "Thanks for coming back, my angel," she thought before she returned to the land of dreams, the woman with the pendant in form of a crescent moon returned to her dreams, even if she couldn't see her face Ruby knew she was smiling.

"I promised that I will always be by your side, ****," The woman said to Ruby with a distorted voice, to Ruby that was the most beautiful voice she ever heard, the woman got up from her chair as she took her hand, Ruby felt how she gently squeezed it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I just got a new job and now I'm arriving at my house past midnight, so I have less time to write, I'll try to readjust my schedule to avoid leaving to much time between the chapters  
> This was more of a chapter to give some tidbits of information, the next chapter the hunt for Cinder will begin.  
> Without nothing else to say, if you enjoyed the chapter, have some suggestions, criticism or just want to talk, feel free to leave a comment, I'll try to answer everything you ask (That aren't spoilers).  
> And once again, thanks for reading.


	7. The Hunt Begins

"Before we begin, where are Yang and Blake," Ozpin asked with curiosity in his voice as he stared to the six students in his office, in front of him, of the eight students who would embark on a dangerous mission, two of them were missing.

"Yeah, about that, Yang-" Before Ruby could explain the whereabouts of her sister, she was interrupted when Weiss covered her mouth with her hand.

"Yang got so distracted looking for information before our mission began that she and Blake missed the last ship to Beacon," Weiss tried to hide her nerves, "But we already agreed to meet them in the city."

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee as he stared at Weiss in the eyes, a small drop of sweat rolled from her forehead, "While I don't agree with them already making moves without my knowledge, because they only were looking more information I'll let it pass, either way, please fill them with what I'm about to say," He inspected his students, Ren and Nora didn't have their cast anymore, Jaune was finally free from his bandages, Pyrrha had her animosity towards him in check, and Ruby and Weiss looked more relaxed to the last time he saw them.

"As a reminder, you will search in groups of two around the city in search of Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, Onice Dust, and Cinder Fall, each pair will have one of those collars," Ozpin pulled a suitcase with four black collars with a small rectangle, "If you find them alone, call the number that I gave you the last time and try to distract them as long as possible, don't try to win as long as you put them the collar they'll become unable of using their aura or in Cinder case, the maiden powers, if Ghost were to show up, or someone who isn't Pyrrha was to find Cinder, don't engage, remember this mission is secret, no one outside of this room cant know about it, and finally, don't try to be heroes, if you think you can't win, retreat from the battle," Ozpin glared at his students, they had a serious expression as they listened to him, they clearly understood the gravity of this mission, "If none of you have any question you are free to go."

His students glared at each other as if they tried to see if someone between them has something to say, in the end, no one said anything, "I think we are ready professor Ozpin" Ruby spoke once they finished glancing at one another.

"If that's the case, good luck, and please be safe" Ozpin closed his eyes when he spoke, keeping them shut until they finally left his office, "I hope that this isn't a mistake," he ran his hand over his hair.

* * *

"Hey Weiss, what's up with the bag?" Nora asked once they were in the ship, she, Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha sat on one side of the ship while Ruby and Weiss sat on the other.

"Blake asked us to bring them a change of clothes because the one they had got dirty last night," Because of the nature of the mission they couldn't go around with their Huntsman and huntresses outfits, so instead of using their normal clothes, Ruby and Weiss had the clothes they used the time they fought Roman with the Paladin, Weiss clothes consisted of a white, double-breasted jacket with black piping over a white and a pleated full skirt

"By the way, where are you going to investigate?" Ruby asked to JNPR, her outfit consisted of a longsleeved gray shirt and over it a black pinafore with red laces, giving it a similar aspect to a corset, a red skirt with her emblem, but instead of having her cape wrapped around her neck like a scarf like last time, she had a metal pin with her emblem on her left shoulder who keep it in place.

"Ren and I are going to look around the residential district, they must have a hideout somewhere in Vale, so the most obvious option of where to have a hideout would be in anywhere but the residential district, so that would be the last place we would search, but because they must know that we know, it means that they must be hiding there," Nora was gasping by the time she finished speaking, her outfit consisted of an unzipped blue navy jacket with pink stripes and a white top with a tiny heart-shaped hole over her chest and a short pink skirt that started at her waist and ended on her mid-thigh.

"It kinda makes sense so I think is worth a shot," Ren spoke as he patted Nora on the back while she tried to regain her breath, because of how little they stand up he wore his usual attire.

"Jaune and I will search on the warehouses in the port, there are a few that have been abandoned and people rarely go there, they are the perfect place to hide," Pyrrha's outfit consisted of a red sleeveless shirt whit a long tail, a bronze vest, a black skirt at knee-length whit her red sash wrapped around it and her tiara.

"Waaah," Jaune covered his mouth with the back of his hand while he yawned, "We are only eight people, if we find someone who saw them it would be a miracle," Another yawn escaped from his mouth, he wore his usual outfit but without his armor, he had a black backpack covering his chest.

After a few more minutes they finally arrived at Vale's docks, after thanking their pilot they started walking towards the commercial district, but after only a few minutes walking the stumbled in front of two girls, a blonde with a yellow scarf and a pink sundress, and a black-haired girl with a bow over her head, and a red turtleneck sweater that showed her midriff and a white miniskirt with flowering design, both of them wore heels and both girls were red from the embarrassment.

"Ahahaahahahahaha, what's up with your clothes ahahahaah," Nora screamed while she laughed and pointed to the two girls in front of them and tears escaped from her eyes.

"Ahahahahahahahaah what happened to you two?" Ruby also pointed to the girls while she laughed.

"While... while you two look good I would like to know what happened to... pfft ahahhahahhaha," Weiss tried to hold her laugh but in the end, she too succumbed, soon the rest started laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, this is funny I got it, did you bring the change of clothes?" Yang asked with an annoyed tone, her and Blake's faces were red.

"Clothes... yes they are on the backpack hahaha," Weiss threw the backpack to Yang while she continued laughing, Yang and Blake left the group while they searched for a place to change.

"Ah, I needed that, as much as I'll like to hear the story behind their outfits, we need to start moving, the city is too big and we can't be sure that they will stay in the same place for too long," Nora wiped her tears as she spoke, "Lets go, Ren, time to find those evildoers," Nora took Ren from his sleeve as the two parted from the group.

"We should also start looking around, the warehouses are far away and they are too many," Jaune waved goodbye as he and Pyrrha left Ruby and Weiss alone.

"Sooo, what should we do?" Ruby glanced at Weiss on her side, "I suppose that the SDC doesn't have access to the surveillance cameras of Vale, right?" She tilted her head as she asked.

"Sadly no," Weiss answered sharply, "but I have an idea on how we can get information" She showed a smug smile, but before she could say anything her and Ruby's scroll rang.

"Its a message from Yang, she and Blake will start looking for clues, did you leave the collar in the bag, right?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I'll send a message telling them what Ozpin told us, tsh," Ruby clicked her tongue in disappointment, "I wanted to know what they did last night,"

"You can pest them later, right now we should be searching for clues of Cinder whereabouts," Weiss started to walk away, Ruby following her close behind.

"But where?" Ruby started to sound annoyed by the lack of communication from part of Weiss.

"Maybe the SDC doesn't have access to surveillance cameras or data from the police, but I know someone who does," Weiss' words had a tint of anxiety and happiness.

"And who this person may be?" Ruby was now curious to who is Weiss' contact.

"My sister," Weiss started biting her nails as they walked towards a cafe.

* * *

"Yang," Blake's voice was a combination of worried and exasperated.

"No," Yang screamed behind her helmet as she stopped at a red light.

"Yang, we should talk about last night," Blake screamed at Yang as she held tight to her waist when she accelerated.

"And I already told you to stop bringing the subject, what happened last night never happened," Yang screamed to make sure that Blake heard her over the sound of the wind.

"Yang, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen," Blake was starting to sound angrier.

"LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Yang screamed as she let go of the handlebar and placed her hands on her helmet as if she tried to cover her ears.

"YANG YOU ARE GOING TO KILL US!" Blake let go of her grip of Yang as she grabbed the bike's handle

"HEY! HANDS OFF MY BABY, ONLY I'M ALLOWED TO TOUCH HER!" Yang slapped Blake's hands from the handle.

"THEN STOP ACTING LIKE A BABY AND START DRIVING THIS COFFIN WITH WHEELS!" Blake screamed in anger as she let go of the steering wheel.

"DON'T YOU DARE TO CALL HER THAT!" Yang suddenly slammed the brakes, making her and Blake fly towards a pile of trash that was piled up beside a building wall, "We are here, happy?" Yang said with a growl as she removed the peel of a banana from her hair.

"I fucking hate you," Blake hissed at Yang as she too removed trash from her hair.

"That wasn't what you said last night" Yang showed a cocky smile while she blushed a little, her outfit consisted of a cream vest worn over a low cut black shirt; both covered by a dark gray shrug with a raised collar, a yellow scarf covering her neck and a black miniskirt.

"Fuck off," Blake got up as she stared to the place, 'Junior's Club' said a neon sign outside of the nightclub, "Really? this is where you gather information?" Blake gave Yang an incredulous look, her outfit consisted of a white, v-neck, zip-up crop shirt, three-quarter sleeves, and black pants.

"Easy there kitty, it may not look like it, but most of the time Junior has something useful to say," Yang got up as she walked towards the door.

"Is this place even open, its barely past noon, I don't think he's here," Yang grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, but the door didn't open, she tried once again with similar results.

"Maybe we could come back later," Blake tried to reason with Yang but she was ignored as Yang used Ember Celica to send the door down.

"See, it was open," Yang motioned to the door with a grin on her face, Blake rolled her eyes as she stepped inside.

"Still, we aren't sure that Junior is here," Both of them walked down a corridor lit by a red light in silence, Yang looked a Blake from time to time through the corner of her eyes.

"When this is over, maybe we could talk about last night, if you still want to talk about it, that's it" Yang spoke in an unusual quiet tone, Blake stopped to look at her to the eyes,  _"I should thank Junior for having these red lights,"_  she thought as she stared at Blake's golden eyes.

"...Yes, I'll like that," Blake turned around and continued to walk, "You are right, we are too busy with other stuff, it would be for the better that we discuss this we a clear mind, things cou-" Blake stopped talking when she saw someone come out of the corner.

"Hey! What are you doing here, didn't you see the sign that read that we are closed?" A man in a black tuxedo, black hat, red tie, and red sunglasses screamed at them, he started walking towards them until he finally saw their faces, "Oh shit it's you!" The man pointed a finger towards Yang as he screamed in fear, Yang responded with a wave from her hand and the man sprinted towards the direction he came from, "Guys close the door it's her, call Junior and the twins!" The sound of a metal door closing resonated through the corridor.

"Shouldn't we had stopped him?" Blake asked Yang as she stared at the place the man was just a moment ago.

"Nah, this is how we greet each other," Yang shrugged as they turned to the corner, once they reached the metal door they heard some commotion from the other side.

"...open the doors idiots, she is going to bring it down and we are going to had to pay for another one," The sound of an angry man could be heard, the door opened after that.

"Heeey guys! Did ya miss me?" Yang screamed as she pointed her fingers to some man in a black tuxedo, meanwhile, Blake stared for a brief moment with an eyebrow raised only to follow Yang, they approached a man behind the counter, he was dressed in a similar outfit to the other men, except that he had a black vest and didn't have sunglasses and a hat, his had black short hair and a beard and mustache of similar color.

"Blondie, what are you doing here?" The man spoke initially with a cheerful tone that soon changed to a more annoyed one as he started rubbing his template, "Just tell me what you want so you can go,"

"I thought you two were friends," Blake raised her eyebrow as she stared to Yang.

"We are, he's just shy," Yang's shit-eating grim just made Junior became more annoyed by her presence.

"Should I remind you that you entered into my club during closing hours and that gives me enough reasons to call the police to escort you two out!" Junior screamed to Yang as he pulled out his scroll.

"Ok, ok, jeez, you need to relax," Yang put her hands in from of her while she tried to calm Junior, "We need information, do the names Cinder Fall, Onice Dust, Emerald Sustrai or Mercury Black ring any bell to you," Yang stared at Junior with a neutral face as she tried to see if there was any reaction that could tell her that Junior was lying.

Junior sighed as he took a dirty glass and started cleaning it with a cloth, "You now that I sell information right?" Junior asked while he looked to the glass he was cleaning, "This is the last time I give you information for free, next time bring money, ... and come during business hours, we are busy getting the place ready," Junior raised his head to look Yang in the eyes.

"Deal! See? I told you we are friends," Yang elbowed Blake on the sides as she said the last thing.

"Onice Dust was the daughter of some rich family, there is nothing worth mentioning other than the fact that she died five years ago from an overdose," Yang and Blake's eyes widened in confusion as they looked at each other.

"I have never heard of someone named Cinder Fall, but Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black aren't strangers to me, Emerald Sustrai is a street rat, she used to steal wallets, scrolls, you know the drill, sometimes she would end up arrested, and while she's just a thief, she's extremely good, but one day, like some sort of miracle, she stopped leaving trace, and shortly after she disappeared," Junior poured some orange juice in two glasses with little umbrellas that he gave to Blake and Yang.

"That kinda explains how she was always the one to find our missing stuff," Blake whispered to Yang who was drinking her juice.

"Mercury Black, while there is no direct information about him, his father is another matter entirely, hehe" Junior chuckled while he poured whiskey in another glass, "His father, Marcus Black was probably the most dangerous assassin in all Vale, and probably in the four kingdoms, what made him so dangerous was that before killing his targets he would steal their semblance, making him more powerful, a few years ago he was found dead on his house and while according to the authorities his son suffered the same fate, but the kind of people that come for my services said other things, that it was his son the one who killed him," Junior gulped down the glass of whiskey, he saw how Blake and Yang's faces were drained from any color.

"That's, kinda dark," Yang spoke as she tried to regain her composure, "Why would someone kill his dad?" She sounded incredulous to the idea of someone killing their dad.

"Who knows, Marcus wasn't the kind of person who would spoil his son, but why do you need the information, both of them have gone dark for a while, they are probably dead or in jail," Junior asked while he took another sip from his glass.

"It's only that we recently fought Roman and he said those names, so we thought they were just another one of their lackeys," Blake spoke before Yang could say anything, a few drops of sweat formed on her forehead.

"Uhh, I see," Junior said in a distrustful tone, he clearly didn't believe them.

"Ok, in that case, we better go, we have more stuff to do, thanks for the info Junior," Yang and Blake got up from their chair and walked towards the exit.

"So what now? We may know who we are fighting against, but that doesn't give us any leads," Yang asked once they left the club.

"I know some people who have some info about the White Fang, we could go there, after mountain Glenn we can't discard the idea of them working with the White Fang," Blake spoke while she strapped the helmet and mounted the bike.

"Alright let the way," And with that, they rode the bike to their next destination.

* * *

"Hello Winter," Weiss waved to her sister from the other side of the screen, she was currently sitting outside of a small coffee shop in the city of Vale, she had an untouched cup of coffee in front of her and besides it, her scroll showed the image of her sister.

Meanwhile Ruby took a sip of her frappe, she was on the chair in front of Weiss, she looked at Weiss with a worry expression, Weiss' stiffness didn't help to in making her less worry.

"What is it? As much as I like talking to you, you aren't one to call me, it's usually the other way around," Winter said coldly as she inspected her younger sister.

"I know, I...," Weiss took a small pause as she inhaled and closed her eyes, "I wanted to ask you a favor," Weiss tried to look her sister to the eyes, but even though they were separated by a holographic screen and hundreds of miles, she couldn't help but tremble by her gaze.

"So let me put things into context; you go dark as soon as you enrolled in Bacon, sending me a card every few weeks in which you barely mention anything regarding your personal life, and now, you unexpectedly call me, not to ask how I'm doing, nor to tell me how your life in Beacon has been, but to ask me a favor. I'm right, or did I miss something?" Winter didn't raise her voice nor did she change from her neutral tone, yet this didn't stop Weiss from wince in shame as Winter recalled her recent behavior towards her sister.

Weiss seeing that Winter has every reason to end the call right there, decided to do something she would never normally do. She pleaded, "I know that I haven't keep with my part of our deal when you accepted to help me get into Beacon, but this is urgent, I wish I could tell you why I need this favor, but I can't, I promise to do anything you ask me to, but please I need your help," Because of how she spoke without pausing and how embarrassed she was from her recent action on in front of her sister no less, Weiss was breathing heavily as she tried to regain her lost breath.

"What if I asked you to leave Beacon and come and join me in the military?" Winter asked as she raised her tone a little, just enough to show her authority.

"I... That... Everything but that please," Weiss recoiled on her seat, her voice became almost a whisper.

Ruby who was listening to everything got up from her chair and almost got close to console her, but before she entered Winter's field of vision and did anything she remembered Weiss' words,  _"She may sound a bit harsh and uncaring, but she loves me, so even if you think that she is mistreating me, don't try anything funny, we need her for our mission,"_

Ruby really wanted to tell Winter a piece of her mind, how could she treat her own sister in that way, but she decided to trust Weiss, this time,  _"If I meet her sister I'll make sure to tell her a thing or two,"_  Ruby thought as she returned to her chair, giving Weiss another worried glance.

"Now that I remember, I'm also on a secret mission in Mistral, once I'm done with it I should be on my way to Vale," Weiss raised her gaze as she looked in confusion to Winter, the casual way she brought hed mission made her curious to Winter's intentions, "You will spend a whole day with me once I arrive, I'll inspect your dorm, you will introduce me to your teammates, and you will join me on a nice dinner were you will update me on how your life has been, if you do that I will help you with anything you need for your mission," While Winter's voice remained in her neutral tone, she showed a small smile to Weiss.

"Yes!" Weiss jumped from her chair with her fist in the air, she almost spilled some of her coffee over her, "Um, I mean, I accept your proposal," Weiss coughed on her hand as she tried to regain her composure, but still couldn't help but smile.

"In that case, please tell, what is this favor that you need so much," Winter gave a warm smile to her sister.

"Right, again, for reasons that I can't explain through a video call, I need to know if there have been any weird activities in the city of Vale, anything out of the ordinary would help," Weiss returned to her serious face as she explained what she wanted.

"Um, I see, it may take me a little while to gather the information that you seek, I'll call you in an hour," Winter placed her right hand on her chin as she spoke.

"Right, I will wait, and Winter, thank you, I promise that I'll repay you," Weiss smiled to Winter, her sister returned the gesture before she ended the call, after a few seconds she let a big sigh as she rested her head on the back of the chair.

"Your sister is really something else, for a moment I really thought that she would force you to leave Beacon," Ruby finally spoke once she saw that Weiss didn't have any intention of having a conversation.

"It's only that it's been so long since we last talked so I..." Weiss stopped as she narrowed her glare and focused on something behind Ruby, "Ruby, don't turn back," her current expression and the way she spoke made Ruby worried.

"What is it, its Cinder, Emerald, the White Fang?" Ruby asked in alert as she turned around, only to see Neptune, inside a sushi place, talking with the cashier, and holding her hand as he whispered to her ear, "Ooooh" Ruby could only say that at the sight.

"Yes Ruby, oooooh," Weiss tone of voice was cold and devoid of any emotion, there wasn't even anger, "So not only he is an  _'intellectual'_  as he calls himself, but he also is a double face, casanova wannabe who will hit anything with boobs," Weiss unsheathed her rapier as she pointed to where Neptune was.

"Weiss, I know that you are angry, but please don't do anything stupid, that's my job," Ruby tried to calm her down, but Weiss didn't stop.

"No Ruby, I'm not angry, I'm just sending a message, that it doesn't matter who they are. Nobody. Tricks. Weiss. Schnee. Without. Paying." Weiss remarked each of her words, a black glyph appeared under Neptune's feet, and before he could ever notice it, his pants were pulled down, showing his underwear to everyone, he tried to grab them to no avail, only to look around furious to the one behind it. Or that was it until he saw Weiss, his eyes widened in shock as the realization hit him, his furious expression was replaced with one of fear, and before Weiss could do anything, he ran with his pants on his ankles.

"I think you went a little too far," Ruby mentioned as she saw Neptune run.

"Really? I think I may have gone soft," Weiss sheathed her rapier back as she took a sip from her coffee, "Now, we have an hour, what would you like to talk about," Weiss asked with her eyebrows still furrowed in anger to the recent events.

That didn't stop Ruby from smiling, "So I have been thinking about these strategies that we could use during the tournament," Ruby started to talk about her plans for the tournament, Weiss couldn't help but smile, thankfully her cup hid her smile to Ruby.

* * *

"Hey, have you seen this girl?" Nora showed her scroll to an old lady that was walking her dog.

"I'm sorry but I don't remember seeing her," The old lady apologized as she continued walking.

"Hey you, have you seen this boy?" Nora crossed the street to show a boy in a skateboard her scroll, the boy just shook his head as he continued raiding his skateboard, "Ah come on, its that nobody has seen these guys?!" Nora screamed to the sky as she knelt in defeat, a few people that were around her give her some confused stares.

"Maybe we should try with another neighborhood, I don't think we will find any clue here," Ren helped Nora stand up, both of them started walking towards the south.

"I suppose you didn't have any luck right?" Nora asked while she walked, she had her arms extended to the sides mimicking an airship and avoiding the cracks on the ground.

"No, in fact, I think people were avoiding me," Ren looked to Nora, his face showed puzzlement to the reaction of the people he talked to.

"Yeah, the people that I talked to barely stopped to answer my questions, is that we stink?" Nora raised her arm and sniffed her armpit, pleased with her smell she raised Ren's arm and sniffed his armpit.

"NORA!" Ren screamed at her as he tucked his arms between his armpits and put some distance between them.

"Scratch that, we smell pretty good," Nora's grim only caused Ren to sigh in exasperation, "But then what is causing people to avoid us," Nora ruffled her hair as she tried to think on a reason as to why people were avoiding them.

"Maybe we should stop to drink something, we have been walking for a few hours," Ren pointed to a nearby store while he looked at Nora.

"How many neighborhoods we have visited?" Nora asked as they approached the store.

"Five counting the last one," Ren opened the door, making a bell on top of the door to chime.

"Aaaahh! this is taking forever, things would improve if we could find some clues to find Cinder," Nora's arms fell in defeat as she and Ren approached the refrigerator.

"Did you say, Cinder, like Cinder Fall? Black hair, golden eyes, and smell of burning charcoal?" an old man asked to them from behind the counter, he was bald and with a prominent white mustache.

"Do you know her?! We are friends of her, she has been lost for a while, if you could give us any info of her whereabouts we would appreciate it" Nora practically teleported in front of the old man, she gleefully asked him.

"If I know her, I rented her the room above the store, if you find here, tell her that I don't care if she pays the missed rent, she isn't welcome here," The old man face got redder as he spoke, "I don't know were that rascal is, but is you find her tell her to come for her stuff and never come back!"

"Don't worry, we will tell her," Ren put his most cordial smile as he put his hand on his chest, "We could even take her stuff for her so you don't have to see her again," The old man looked at them suspiciously, before nodding.

"Sure, her stuff are already packet on the room above, just be quick," He motioned to some stairs behind him and letting them pass.

Once they reached the room they saw a single bed with four boxes over it, "I'll send a message to everyone telling them that we found something of interest, we should take this to Ozpin immediately," Ren pulled out her scroll as he started typing, Nora meanwhile took two boxes under each hand.

Once Ren sent the message and Nora got the boxes they went down back to the store.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Ren asked the old man before he and Nora left.

"Arent you doing it now?" The old man chuckles before he saw the frown in Ren's face, "What is it, kid?"

"We have noticed that people are avoiding us, do you know what could be the reason?"

"Ah, so is that what you want to ask, the past week's people have been disappearing, and not during nighttime and when they are alone like in those movies you young folk like so much, but also during the day, during parties, in busy streets, entire families have been disappearing on their own houses, and with the authorities doing nothing, it has made people wary of strangers," the old man said with a solemn tone.

"Thanks, we'll make sure people start to investigate this," Ren said as he turned to unlock the door, but before he could open it, he felt how the temperature suddenly dropped.

"REN!" Nora dropped the boxes as she reached for Magnhild, Ren turned around to see the old man, but he wasn't there anymore, he caught through the corner of his eye a black tendril leaving through the window.

"Nora! the window!" Ren screamed as he and Nora jumped through the window, but there wasn't anything there, Ghost kidnapped someone right under their noses, and they weren't able to stop him, "We need to tell this to Ozpin and fast," Ren looked at Nora, both of them looked afraid and confused to what just happened.

* * *

"Uuuahh, hooo, how many warehouses we have checked thus far?" Pyrrha asked as she rested her hands on her knees and tried to regain her breath.

"With this twenty-three," Jaune laid on his back on the ground, he raised his arms with two fingers raised on his left hand and three on his right, "I think we should search in some other places, the only thing worth mentioning so far was that warehouse with crates filled with Dust," Jaune dropped his hands in defeat.

"You should take a break, you have been using your semblance nonstop, if enemies were to happen you would be too weak to fight back" Amber spoke inside Pyrrha's head, her voice showed preoccupation.

"That means we are on a good track, even if we don't find something today, we can come back tomorrow, come on, another one and we can take a break," Pyrrha extended her hand to Jaune as she smiled at him.

Jaune stared at her for a few moments before he smiled back at her and took her hand, "So what do you want to eat,"

'What do you think about kebabs, I hear there is this new restaurant that is really good," As Pyrrha and Jaune walked towards the next warehouse, Jaune pulled out his scroll, "What are you doing?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

"Sorry, but I bet to Yang that the Unicorns of Vale would beat the Leopards of Patch so I really want to hear the results, I promise it would only be for a while, and I'll use headphones to avoid making unnecessary noise," Jaune plugged one earphone in one of his ears, Pyrrha only stared at him in disapproval.

"Jaune, I think that you should do that during our mission, we don't know what we could find so we need to be on a...lert" Pyrrha's mouth was gaping with shock and her eyes widened.

"Pyrrha, what's go...ing on" Jaune mimicked Pyrrha's expression as he stared inside the warehouse.

The warehouse was decorated with banners from the White Fang, there were numerous crates with the logo of the Schnee Dust Company, and in a platform at the bottom of the warehouse, there were three paladins.

"We need to call Ozpin, Jaune stop fooling around and call him!" Pyrrha screamed as she took a combat stance.

"Forget about that, you need to hear this," Jaune unplugged the earphone as he tried to pass it to Pyrrha.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed in exasperation.

"This isn't about the game, it's the White Fang" Jaune disconnected the earphones.

"We repeat, we are interrupting the broadcast of the game to bring you a special communiqué, the leader of the White Fang in Vale, Adam Taurus has published a video with some disconcerting information," The voice of the man in the radio showed panic even when he tried to hide it.

Both Jaune and Pyrrha feel how their breathing became heavier.

* * *

"I don't understand, how can so many people disappear," Blake's voice was filled with confusion, both she and Yang were walking away from a bookstore.

"Maybe something happened and they needed to hide, maybe its the same for that Tuckson guy," Yang tried to comfort her as she patted Blake on the back.

"Maybe, but for that to happen to so many people is weird, maybe we should start to investigate if something is happening in the city," Blake stopped in front of Bumblebee as she finished speaking.

"We Interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this Breaking News," The voice of Lisa Lavander resonated through the street as the televisions in the showcase of a store changed to the image of Lisa, "The leader of the White Fang faction in Vale, Adam Taurus just uploaded a video with some really disturbing information."

"...No" Blake whispered in desperation as her bow twitched a little.

* * *

"...so if Yang throws me towards our enemy, with the recoil of Crescent Rose and your time dilation, I'll be to fast for them to react in time," as Ruby finished explaining she noticed how Weiss looked at something in her scroll with a frow on her face, "Did your sister found the information?

"No, the White Fang did something, and apparently is really serious," Weiss showed her scroll to Ruby as both of them stared to Lisa Lavander, shortly after the video faded into black, only to be replaced with the face of Adam Taurus, he looked beaten, something black similar to a ribbon was around his neck, and instead of his mask, he showed his scarred face by the logo of the Schnee Dust Company.

* * *

"My name is Adam Taurus, leader of the branch of the White Fang in Vale, through this medium, I confess the participation of the White Fang in conspiration to destroy Beacon Academy during the Vytal Festival,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, this is the longest chapter I have written, I hope it isn't too tedious too read, I should start dividing them in two if they became even longer.  
> The next chapter is already written, it only needs a little editing, by Thursday it should be uploaded, and just a warning, things will get a little bloody.  
> Without nothing else to say thanks for reading, if you want to leave a critic, your opinion, or you just want to talk, feel free to leave a comment.


	8. Just a little boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, this chapter gets a little dark. Violence, death, and mention of torture.

"Hey Gray, we still have some time left before it gets dark, how about we go and have a drink in some bar?" A caiman Faunus asked her partner on the left, she had scales covering her neck, and arms, long dark green-ish hair, her eyes were a dark blue tone, she was way taller than the average citizen, she easily went past the seven feet.

"Uuugh, I don't know Ale, the last time Adam chewed me out for a whole hour and considering how he has been acting recently, to be honest, I am kinda scared of making him angry," he tousled his hair as he said this, he was a wolf Faunus, he had a long and fluffy grey tail, short grey hair with some black highlights, his eyes bring a paler shade of blue than his companion, compared to his girlfriend he was shorter, barely being five feet tall.

Alexandrite and Gray were currently walking through the streets of Vale, Adam had asked them both to scout the city and come with a route to travel without being detected by the police or the militia, their task was completed a while ago, so they decided to have a small date before returning to the camp.

Both of them were dressed in casual clothes and had a backpack, nothing to make them stand up, Gray wore a grey long-sleeved shirt and black jeans, Alexandrite wore something similar but her shirt was a lime color and her jeans light blue.

"Aaagh, you are right, Boss has been weird since the Belladonna girl deserted us, I mean, just look at us, working for a human, what is he even thinking?" Alexandrite said the last part in an exasperated tone, "Aah, let's take this shortcut," she took his hand as they walked between some alleys.

The deeper they walked between the alleys, the fewer people where around them, they continued walking until they were completed alone, "Hey, are we doing the right thing?" Gray asked with a hint of doubt on his voice, "One thing is to steal dust from trains or attack the Schnees and their allies, but to attack a school? they are children, there are even some of our brothers and sisters."

"I don't know anymore, we are supposed to fight for justice, for our brothers and sisters, but this doesn't feel right, I am not even sure that Sienna knows what's happening here" She rubbed her hand on her face as they walked, "Don't you think it suddenly it got a little colder, Gray?" Gray didn't respond after a few seconds like he always does, his hand even felt a little lighter, because of that she turned around, seeing that except for the severed hand that she was holding Gray had disappeared "Graaaaay!" Dropping the severed hand she pulled a gun out of her backpack as she looked around.

"GRAAAAAAYY! ANSWER ME, WHERE ARE YOU?" She continued screaming as she hid behind a dumpster. Her heart rate increased by a tenfold, the temperature in the alley continued to drop to the point that she could see her breath, her mind was at full speed as she thought in all the possible ways someone could have sneaked past them without being noticed and where was the enemy could be, but a drop of water that landed in her hand broke her concentration, as she looked at it, she realized that it was a drop of blood.

"aaaleee..." she heard a whisper above her, she put her hands on her mouth to avoid screaming as she dropped her gun when she looked what was above her, there it was Gray, he was being suspended by some black tendrils as they crushed his body and others penetrated his eyes mouth and ears, as she locked to whom those tendrils belonged to, she saw a human-like Grimm she had never seen before, it was completely black with some red marks around its body, its head was just a ball of darkness without hair, eyes or mouth, his hands had large claws that it was using to hold onto the buildings around the alley and below its waist there were numerous tendrils coming out, recovering from the shock she started jumped towards her gun on the ground and started shotting at the Grimm, but this one didn't react.

"Let him GOOOOO!" Alexandrite continued shooting until she ran out of bullets, she only saw in horror as the Grimm, like he was some kind of octopus pulled Gray closer and closer to his waist, more tendrils continued evolving him until she couldn't see him, she heard how his bones where crushed, and then silence followed, when the tendrils rolled out there was no trace of Gray with the exception of a few drops of his blood, when the Grimm finally saw her she sprinted towards the main street.

"Somebody help! There is a Gr...!" she tried to scream for some help but a tendril coiled around her mouth, as it brought her closer to the Grimm, but he was a little different, not only it was bigger, but its head adopted a more human shape, tears started coming from her eyes as her face was just a few inches away from the Grimm.

"Where?" The Grimm spoke with a voice composed of multiple voices, some young, some old, male and female, it sounded like a choir.

"Whe..re what?" It was difficult to talk with the tendrils squeezing her, she could almost feel how her bones were being crushed.

"Where is Adam" The Grimm spoke again as tightened the grip of his tendrils, Alexandrite started to cough blood in response, "You will die no matter what, but how much you suffer will depend on your answer" The amazement of watching a Grimm speak so fluently was opaque because of her fear of death, "And don't try to lie to me, I already know they are in the emerald forest, so if you lie, another Faunus will die, I promise that Adam is the only one who I'm interested"

"Adam..." Could she trust a Grimm, if Adam is his only objective maybe its because he did something to deserve it, if that was true Adam was responsible for Gray's death, if that is true, then it was Adam's fault that Gray died, if that was true, Adam deserves to die, "Adam is in a camp in the middle of the Emerald forest, but please don't harm my..." Alexandrite's voice was cut off when more of the Grimm's tendrils coiled around her head and crushed it, soon after, Ghost started 'devouring' her body just as they did with Gray.

**E**

To say that Adam was furious would be an understatement, " _I shouldn't have yielded to that Witch,_ " he thought as he glared daggers to one of his men that were packing weapons in a metal crate.

After he saw the amount Dust and Lien she could get him he started thinking that this was a blessing in disguise, and when the street rat started recruiting more Faunus to his cause, thoughts of taking over the White Fang filled his head.

But after the incident in mountain Glenn he has been starting to lose more men a women, some had been arrested, others died during action, and the number of deserters had been increasing, so when the Witch's boy toy came and told him that they needed to change the whole plan again he almost had him executed at that moment, but the last thing he needed was the Witch herself to come.

So here he was, preparing everything to move his men to a new location inside the city. To avoid losing all his men in case someone discovered their location, he divided his men into groups of fifty, so now that they almost finished packing their stuff, he only needed to regroup them in the main camp and wait for the scouts to return.

" _Where those two idiots could be? it's already dusk, and to make matters worse half of my men are AWOL,_ " Adam tightened the grip of his fist as he punched a tree, "Where is everyone!" Adam broke a table with a punch, startling his men, but he couldn't care less at this moment, his patience was running low.

"I already send a few men to check the missing camps but they haven't returned yet," His Lieutenant informed to him as he positioned behind him and waited for orders.

"Forget it, we'll start without them, give the call," Adam and his lieutenant walked to the center of the camp.

They were exactly in the middle of the Emerald Forest, they chopped the trees in a radius of 4 yards, while the camp was mostly empty except for a few tables and a white tent.

"Brothers, in your positions, now!" The Lieutenant screamed, in a few seconds everyone present lined up and waited for orders, "In a few minutes we will move to our new hideout in the city, our scouts haven't returned with the route, so we'll have to improvise, we'll move in groups of five, don't get separated from your group and avoid the busy streets..." He paused when he started to hear something coming from the woods "Adam, someone is coming," He whispered to his leader as he pointed to the woods.

"...am...Ad...," More started to look at the woods as the sounds started getting closer "Ada... Adam!" From the woods a cheetah Faunus emerged, his right arm was missing and his left eye was shut, blood was coming from his wounds, he was bald with a cheetah tail, he wore the uniform of the White Fang.

"You are from one of the missing camps, right? What happened?" The Lieutenant got closer to him with a few others to treat his wounds, Adam continued to stare at the place where he came from.

"We need... we need to get out of here as quickly as possible," He looked traumatized, he trembled every time someone touched him and he looked at all directions like he was looking for something or someone.

"Relax, we need to treat your wounds first" A White Fang member tried to clean his wounds with a clean cloth, only for the Cheetah Faunus slap it out of his hands.

"wE Don't Have TimE for this!" His voice broke as he screamed, he had a deranged look on his face, "It's coming, the Grimm is coming, he killed them all, we didn't even stand a chance, WE DONT STAND A CHANCE HAHAHA" The rest of the members were starting to look scared, a thought was shared between everyone in the camp, 'There is a Grimm in the woods, and is strong enough to drive a trained fighter mad, and it's coming for them', they were so absorbed in their thoughts that nobody reacted when a tendril pierced the chest of the mad member, killing him instantly, and pulling the lifeless body back to the forest.

"Turn off the lights now! Everyone formation 'T', eyes wide open and be prepared to fight," Adam finally spoke, he graved Wilt and Blush, and just like his men he took aim to the woods, "When the Grimm appears we'll shoot him and try to kill it, and get out of this accursed forest," they formed a circle with Adam and his Lieutenant in the middle, the temperature started to drop by the second as they waited.

Except for the sound of the wind, there wasn't any sound, not even the cry of a cicada could be heard, nor the growls of animals or Grimm. When suddenly a ball came flying towards Adam, he instinctively cut it in half, liquid splashed on his face, and people started screaming around him, what he cut wasn't some ball, it was the head of one of his men.

"Everyone, calm down, it's trying to make us attract more Grimm towards us!" Adam ordered to his men who started to panic, he even was startled from what happened, "This Grimm is too smart, we may be dealing with some alpha," He whispered to his Lieutenant.

"I don't know, they are trying to scare us, they want us to attract more Grimm, they planned this, that's not normal, few Grimms are capable of that, we should get out of here," His Lieutenant was sweating, he too was scared, that wasn't a good sign.

"No, if he is as smart as you say, he probably wants us to go deeper in the forest, he may be smart but the fact that he's trying to attract more Grimm here and wants us to go into the forest its proof that they aren't really that strong" Adam continued aiming as he talked, he also was sweating.

"Aaaaadaaaaam," A female voice came from the woods, a voice too familiar to Adam, "Aaaadaaam, why don't you come? We can be together again," The voice came from a different direction, it had a mocking tone.

"Blake? Blake is that you?" Adam lowered his weapon as he spoke back to the voice, there was something weird in her voice but he was sure it was her, "Have you finally come to your sense and decided to return with me, my love?," He sounded arrogant, but the people who knew him better could also hear hope in his voice.

"Adam, she isn't Blake, remember that I found her in Mountain Glenn, there is no way she changed her mind in such a short time." His Lieutenant stopped him before he started to walk towards the woods.

"Why you need to make things so difficult?" The voice transitioned from the one who sounded like Blake, to one that sounded like multiple people spoke at the same time "I only wanted to have a little chat," A giant black paw emerged from the woods, the creature was as big as a Bullhead, the creature was completely black with a few red marks all over its body, it looked like some giant cat, if a cat had a bunch of tendrils instead of a face and its tail was as double the size of its body and had a spearhead at the tip, "But know that y'all had seen me, I can't leave any of you to leave," Every member of the White Fang stared in awe and fear.

"Everyone stop staring and open fire!" Adam ordered in anger, "Have you ever seen a Grimm like that," He asked his Lieutenant.

"I don't think a have ever heard about a talking Grimm, to begin with, it must be some kind of failed experiment or something, this is way about our level, we should leave and now," His Lieutenant responded as he fired with a rifle.

"I don't think this thing will let us leave," Adam started to shoot, but it was like the Grimm was immune, the bullets pierced him but he just continued to advance, "This isn't taking us anywhere, Cover me!" He got out of the circle as he advanced towards the Grimm, the Grimm in response shoot multiple tendrils towards Adam, Adam responded by cutting them and dodging others, as he got closer the number of tendrils increased, in the meantime, his men continued shooting the Grimm without any success in hurting it.

"Adam above you!" His Lieutenant screamed, Adam looked above him as he backstepped, barely avoiding the tail of the Grimm, but the Grimm didn't stop its attacks, he continued attacking with its tendrils, throwing a few punches with its paws, a few of his attacks barely grazed him, but this was enough to start draining little by little his aura, this forced Adam to go on the defensive.

"Lieutenant cover me, everyone else, shoot towards my sword, AND ONLY MY SWORD," Adam ordered while putting emphasis on the last as he avoided another tendril who went towards its face, as he continued to run towards his men, his Lieutenant now running towards the Grimm, attacking with his chainsaw towards the legs of the Grimm. Once he was a few meters away from his men he unsheathed his sword, blocking the shots with his sword "Come on, come on, faster," He talked to himself with irritation on his voice.

"As entertaining as this is, I can't let you do that Adam, our fight has lasted enough time," The Grimm spoke, with its paw they punched the Lieutenant, sending him flying towards a tree, its tendrils went flying towards the rest of the White Fang, some were impaled dying instantly, while others barely dodged the attacks, Adam watched many of his men die as he ran towards the Grimm. As he dodged the attacks he prepared to unleash his semblance. The closer he got to the Grimm the more relentless their attacks became. And it was when a tendril punched him in the stomach, pushing the air out of his lungs and at the same time breaking his Aura. That he cut all the tendrils and the legs of the Grimm with a single slice. The Grim fell to the ground immobile as black particles started to come out of its wounds.

"Now, I don't think you are some normal Grimm, who send you, Cinder? Sienna? the Schnees?" Adam put his food over the Grimm as they tried to raise, his Lieutenant walked to his side as he observed the Grimm.

"Did Cinder finally decided to get rid of us? Did Sienna learn about our alliance with the humans?" The Lieutenant started asking as he positioned his chainsaw at the torso of the creature, ready to cut it in half at any moment, "Did the Schnees want vengeance for what I did to their little princess?" He said with a mocking tone on his voice as he remembered his fight in Mountain Glenn.

"Did, did you did something to Weiss?" The Grimm asked back, the black particles that were coming from their wounds stopped midair and the temperature dropped even more, the drops of sweat froze in the faces of the surviving members of the White Fang.

"So the Schnees send you uhh?, is the little princess angry that a dirty Faunus bested her in battle? or it's because of how I smashed her pretty face?" The Lieutenant continued to mock the Grimm.

"Lieutenant! stop antagonizing them!" Adam admonished his Lieutenant when he realized the reaction of the Grimm towards his Lieutenant's words, soon after he started to make some distance between him and the Grimm.

"Why? Just look at them, it doesn't even have a mouth to bite us with," He looked to Adam as he spoke, only to look back to the Grimm, dropping his chainsaw, impaling the Grimm.

"LIEUTENANT! We could have gained intel from our enemies!" Adam screamed angrily finally run out of patience.

"You hurt Weiss? You. Hurt. Her! yOu HUrTed mY AngEL!" as the Grimm spoke the multiple voices that it used started to fade, only leaving three broken voices, one belonging to a woman, and the two other to a men, his body started to tremble, making the Lieutenant made some distance, "You hURt HeR!" his body exploded in a flurry of black particles, only to reform back in an amorphous ball of tendrils, "HoW dARe yoU! hOw DarE YOu! "HoW dARe yoU! hOw DarE YOu! "HoW dARe yoU! hOw DarE YOu! "HoW dARe yoU! hOw DarE YOu! "HoW dARe yoU! hOw DarE YOu! "HoW dARe yoU! hOw DarE YOu!" The Grimm repeated over and over again, the sounds of Beuwolf could be heard getting closer.

"Everyone run!" Adam ordered as he started to run as he and his men started running towards the forest they saw a pack of Beowolfs ran towards them, "IT'S THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE," He screamed in anger at the sight in front of him, but the Beowolfs ignored him and his men, they continued running towards the strange Grimm, they jumped with teeth and claws ready to attack, "What the...," Adam stared in disbelief as he saw how the Beowolfs attacked another one of their kind.

"InSOlent bEAst!" The mysterious Grimm lifted a Beowolf and smashed him towards another, he continued doing this until the Beowolfs themselves started to run away, and before they could do the same, the Grimm moved faster than them.

"SuCH a gREat sIN, dEserVEs A pUNIshmeNT oF eQuAL mAGnItuDe" Once the Grimm finished, he shot his tendrils back to Adam, his Lieutenant and the remaining members of the White Fang, "dEAth wOUld bE tO kiND OF a puNISHment," he used a member of the White Fang as a club against his Lieutenant, the force of his attack was enough to pulverize the improvised club and send flying the Lieutenant, and before he could react another tendril picked him up, only to hit him with another member of the White Fang, but this time the left arm of the Lieutenant was detached from his body.

"AAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh," The Lieutenant screamed in pain, holding his wound, but the Grimm didn't stop, he continued using members of the White Fang as weapons.

"dIE, DiE, Die!" The Grimm repeated over and over again as he continued their attacks, even after the only remains of his Lieutenant were a puddle of blood and guts, the Grimm continue to smash members of the White Fang towards the ground killing them instantly, until Adam was the only one left.

"This isn't happening, this can't be happening, I'm supposed to do great things, I'm supposed to be the hero who frees the Faunus," Adam started to talk to himself and tears rolled out of his mask, fear clutched his heart, a fear that he didn't feel since he was a kid.

"nOW aDAm, wE haVe sTuFF tO Do," The ball of tendrils that was the Grimm spoke, leaving Adam on the floor, as soon as he touched the ground Adam started to run, but a tendril cut his right forearm, the pain made him drop to his knees, other tendrils started to search between the crates in the camp, Adam watched how it pulled a computer, putting it on a table, it also brought a chair to the table, a few tendrils brought him to the chair, while some others started to push some buttons, soon after his face appeared on the screen, the Grimm was recording him, "NoW i nEed yOu to DEliveR a meSsAGue foR mE,"

"What messa...," Adam was about to ask when a tendril pierced his throat, "But I now that you wouldn't do this willingly," Adam spoke once again, his face went from one of horror to a neutral one, as he realized that even though he was speaking, he wasn't the one in control of his body " _How?_ " Adam asked inside his head.

"Now its time to start," The Grimm spoke through Adam, as he stared at the screen Adam saw how a tendril took out his mask, revealing his scar, while other tendril pressed a button, "My name is Adam Taurus, leader of the branch of the White Fang in Vale, through this medium I confess the participation of the White Fang in conspiration to destroy Beacon Academy during the Vytal Festival, this attack was planned by another group of humans, Cinder Fall and his lackeys, Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black, they hacked the CCTS and they planned the use of the military force of Atlas to increase the number of death and destruction of their attack," and while the Grimm continued speaking through Adam's body, Adam could only watch how something else used his body

" _How does it now so much? why it is doing this? just why? why is this happening?_ " Adam continued to speak inside his head, the impotence of not controlling his body was driving him mad.

"After this video is over I will proceed to kill myself, you can find my body in the forest at the southeast of Vale, in the Emerald forest just a few kilometers outside the border, with nothing else to say, goodbye" A tendril pushed another button, stopping the recording, "And now with that out of the way," the Grimm removed its tendril from Adam's neck, and once again he was in control of his body as he fell from the chair.

"Ho...w couff! couff! how do you know all this?" Adam said between coughs, blood coming out of his mouth, "Who told you all that? Why you do all this?! JUST WHAT ARE YOU?!" His voice increased in volume with each question, he held his throat with his hand.

"sADly, i cAN't AnsWEr tHat, i Can'T rISk sOMeOnE pEEpINg oN yOuR mEmORieS," The Grimm started to return to the woods.

"At least answer me this, how did you know how blake sounds like?" He finally got up staring at the Grimm, swaying from one side to the other.

"...wHO iS bLAke? Is ShE oNe of yOuR men, iN thAT shE iS aLreADy dEaTH, jUst lIKe yOU" The Grimm shoot a tendril towards Adam, but before it could pierce him he jumped to his right, rolling as he grabbed a gun and a sword on the floor, he parried and blocked tendril after tendril.

" _I won't die here, I can't die here, I have to survive,_ " Adam thought as he clutched to his life with each swing of his sword and each bullet of his gun.

"Adam," Once again he heard Blake's voice behind him, and instinctively he turned around, but instead of seeing Blake he saw a tendril coming out of the ground, he spotted a mouth in the tendril, "Goodbye Adam," the mouth in the tendril flashed him a sly smile as it spoke with Blake's voice in a mocking tone, and before he could react two other tendrils stabbed him in the stomach and chest, making him drop his weapons.

"aah," Adam exhaled, he didn't scream or cried, he just stared at his wounds, when the Grimm removed its tendrils from Adam, he dropped to his knees and then he fell on his back, he knew that the Grimm was speaking but he couldn't hear him, he was too distracted watching his whole life pass through his eyes.

His days in the SDC quarry, the day that he was marked for trying to escape, the day the SDC took his parents, the day he joined the White Fang, his first successful mission, the first time a Faunus thanked him, the first time he saved a Faunus, his first dinner with the Belladonna family, his first date, his first kiss, his first time killing, the first time his friends started to look at him in fear, the day Blake abandoned him, the day he met his best friend and Lieutenant, what was his name? he couldn't even remember it, it has been so long since he referred to him with another name other than 'Lieutenant' but it wasn't the only thing he couldn't remember, what was his favorite food? what was his favorite hobby? when was the last time he dreamed? what he dreamed about? Why did he want to save the Faunus?

* * *

"No, please, I promise I won't try to escape anymore," I struggled as one of the guards brought the hot piece of metal to my face, "no, please, I will be a good boy, I'll do everything you want but please nooooOO AAAAAaaagghh," My face it's burning, I could feel how my skin is melting, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, mom, dad, anyone, please save me, please someone made it stop, why me? why? what did I do wrong?

Before I knew it I was already back to my 'house', I could still feel the hot metal in my face, after staring the metal ceiling for a few minutes I finally got up from my bed, I watched my reflection in a mirror, the logo of the Schnee Dust Company was now forever branded in my face. When I changed my clothes for cleaner ones I left my house, better not give the guards another reason to punish me, my 'house' was just four concrete walls with a metal sheet slapped over them.

"Hey Taurus, stop lazing around and go back to work," A guard pointed his gun towards me, a sordid smile appeared on his face "Or would you like to be branded again? or is that you are trying to meet your parents again? wahahaha," The guard started to laugh, he was one of the guards who took my parents.

"No sir, I will go back to work," Better go back to work and avoid giving the guards reasons to punish me.

Just like every single day, I worked in the most dangerous part of the quarry, the mining of the highest quality of crystal's dust was in the deepest part and the areas were you mine them are too small, because of that the air it's too thin, there are even more dust particles than oxygen, normally I'll only be here for half an hour, with a break of fifteen minutes to recover my breath, but because I tried to escape last night I'm supposed to work here during my whole shift without brakes.

"Kuff, kuff," After only an hour I started to cough, my vision was starting to get blurry, I can barely stand up, I could hear a commotion outside, but I'm more concerned about my life, if this was one of the stories that my mother used to tell me, this would be the moment where the hero comes to my rescue, "What stupidity," There is no way a hero is coming now, I fell to my knees as I tried to breath, the sound of the outside was disappearing at the same time as my consciousness, but as I closed my eyes I started to hear the footsteps of someone.

"Is anybody here?" A woman asked as she descended through the elevator, since when there are female guards? and since when the guards have masks that resemble Grimms? "Oh wait! hang on! *** there is a child down here! tell ****** to prepare the first aid kit!" The woman in the Grimm mask carried me, as she unsheathed her sword, and with a single swing, a red portal appeared.

"*****! stop doing that. you are going to give me a heart attack one of those days, what's up with the brat?" A man with black hair was suddenly in front of me, we were outside of the mine, the guards were tied up while a group of humans and Faunus were aiding the workers.

"There is no time for that ****, where is ******, I need her to heal this kid," Even with the mask I could tell that she was worried.

"She is with Sienna and Ghira, this is worse than we expected, everyone that was in the basement's cells is dead, apparently they forgot where they put the keys and they couldn't bother to find them or search for a replacement," the man lighted a cigar as he explained.

"no, that's... that's where my parents are," I tried to speak but my throat was burning.

"I'm sorry kid, we were too late," the man ruffled my hair, as tears started to come from my good eye I lost my conscious once again.

I woke up in a really comfy bed, I was connected to a machine that was making a BEEP sound every few seconds, the lights were on, revealing a white room with various cabinets containing what appears to be medical supplies, a really tall man was sleeping on the chair beside the bed, he had long black hair and a beard, he wore a long violet vest, I tried to get up but the sounds of the machine started to become louder and faster, waking the man besides my bed.

"Augh... its morning already?" The man started to wake up, half-opening his eyes, but when he saw me he quickly got up, "Oh thank god you are awake, are you hurt somewhere? do you need anything? there is no need to be shy." when he tried to touch my head I instinctively recoiled, his face quickly changed from happy to confused and finally to saddened.

"no, I'm fine, just tired," my voice was barely a whisper "Where are I am?" this didn't look like the medical installations of the quarry.

"You are in the hospital, or more specifically you are in Menagerie," he walked towards a water jug that was in a corner of the room, after he filled a paper cone he walked towards me, offering me the cone "We heard about what was happening in that particular quarry, so with the help of a few Faunus and some Huntsman we went to help you all," as I drank the water I saw how he clenched his fist "but...," He stopped once the door opened, a small girl with short black hair and cat ears entered the room.

"Dad, miss Sienna is looking for you, oh you are awake!" the girl ran towards the bed with a big smile on her face.

"Oh I completely forgot about the meeting, Blake, can you keep company to... sorry I didn't ask you your name?" The man ruffled the hair of the girl as he looked at me,

"Adam, Adam Taurus," I answered as I watched the little scene in from of me.

"Nice to meet you, Adam, I wish the circumstances were different, I'm Ghira Belladonna, she is my daughter Blake, I hope you two get along in the future," He motioned himself and his daughter as he spoke, leaving the room after he finished talking.

"Sooo, what do you like to do?" Blake asked me with a big smile on her face, but I noticed how her eyes moved from one side to the other, she was trying to avoid my scar.

I just remained in silence, I spend my whole life in the quarry, I never had the opportunity to do something for fun, no, there is one thing that I enjoyed, "I like to hear stories,"

"Really what kind of stories?!" she was excited when she heard me. "Fairytales? horror? adventure? romance? legends? comedies?" she started listing genres.

"I like stories that have heroes," I saw how Blake's face brightened from happiness, she started to tell me all her favorites stories that involved heroes, and I even started sharing some stories that my mom told me, we even started laughing at some point.

"My dad is planning to do something for the Faunus," She suddenly blurted "After what happened in that quarry he said that he couldn't let things continued like they are, even after the war we are still being treated unjustly, but my dad says that there are some humans who really want to help us, and if we show to the world the injustices that we suffer, maybe we can finally have peace between humans and Faunus!" Blake had a big smile as she spoke about his father's plans.

"Is that even possible?" I wasn't convinced about that future that Blake spoke of.

"Of course, I'm planning on helping with everything I can!" Blake was practically jumping "What do you say, Adam? would you like to help us? it would be as if we were..."

"Heroes," I interrupted her, "I like how that sounds," I couldn't help but smile, I could be a hero, I could help other Faunus, we could finally live in peace.

* * *

Adam was laying on his back as it started to rain, the Grimm long gone, he didn't have the strength to get up nor even to scream for help, "How could I forget that day? wasn't that the day I decided I was going to help Blake in bring peace?" he could barely maintain his consciousness, raindrops were sliding down his face, " _I'm sorry Blake, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I didn't want to hurt you, I didn't want to make you cry, I just wanted to be hero, I just wanted to make your family's dream a reality. Hey, Blake, it's pretty dark, I'm scared, please, Blak...e, ev...en if ... I d...on't de...ser...ve it, c...oul...d y...ou t...ell me a s...to...ry, o...n...e wh...e..."_  Adam's thoughts soon faded into black.

As the rain increased in volume, the citizens of Vale were hiding inside their houses. The students of Beacon were preparing themselves for the festivities. In Menagerie Ghira is watching a movie with her wife. The Faunus around the world continued fighting in their own ways in search of equality.

The SDC continues to exploit the Faunus. Sienna Khan is planning her next move.

And Blake was carrying a wasted blonde to a hotel, their clothes were drenched with the rain, she groaned as the blonde make some dirty joke about their current situation.

None of them noticed when Adam died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I don't dislike what they did to Adam in Vol. 6, I feel that he could have become something like a recurring enemy for both Yang and Blake, either way, I'm ok with his end.
> 
> And I'm not trying to make you sympathize with Adam, it's only that I truly believe that when we are kids, we want to change the world in a better place, and with Adam as he grew up his desire to safe the Faunus transformed in a desire to be the hero of the Faunus at all cost, transforming him in what he was in the series.
> 
> Changing the subject, I'm thinking of changing the name of the story, but I'm still not sure, the new name I have thought is "The name of a Hero"
> 
> If you read all this, thank you, if you want to leave a talk, leave a review, point some mistake or give some tips, feel free to do it, I'll make sure to respond.


	9. Sins of the Father

"After this video is over I will proceed to kill myself, you can find my body in the forest at the southeast of Vale in just a few kilometers outside the border, with nothing else to say, goodbye," The video in Weiss' scroll finished only to change back to Lisa.

"We just received information from the Vale's police department that the body of Adam Taurus has been found in what appears to be an abandoned camp of the White Fang, while the remaining members of the White Fang remain missing, signs of fighting can be seen all over the camp, we will bring you more information from this awful event later at five Pm. at Vale News Network," When Lisa finished speaking the video changed to one of some sports reporters talking about the game between Vale's Unicorns and Patch's Leopards.

"We should put the search on hold, if what Adam said is true, then Cinder is far more dangerous than we thought, Weiss?" Ruby spoke after a few seconds as she stood up and left some money to covert their bill, but when she turned her gaze to Weiss, she stopped everything she was doing.

Weiss had a hand on her chest as she struggled to breathe, her hands were shaking just like the rest of her body, and at one point she dropped her scroll without Ruby noticing it, tears were starting to form in her eyes, "I... I'm sorry but I...I remembered that I need to do something in somewhere," Weiss finally stood up as she ran towards an alley, as Ruby followed her with her eyes, she noticed how a few people glared at Weiss with loathing on their eyes.

"Oh no, Weiss!!" Ruby ran after her once she realized the reason for Weiss' disturbance, "Weiss wait," Ruby followed Weiss to the same alley she entered just a few moments ago, the sound of someone sobbing told her where to look up, "Weiss?" Ruby turned around a corner and saw Weiss hugging her legs on the ground and her bolero on a nearby trashcan.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Weiss repeated to herself over an over again as she buried her head between her legs.

"Weiss, it's me, Ruby," Ruby tried to comfort Weiss, as she gets closer to her, and was so near to touching her shoulder, Weiss recoiled as she stared at her with tears in her eyes.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!" Weiss screamed in anger only for her face to turn in anguish once she saw Ruby's fearful expression, both of them stared to the ground in silence for a few seconds, but for both of them, it almost felt like an eternity.

"I always knew that my father did horrible things to the Faunus, hold their salary, the unsafe working conditions, how Faunus would die for the long hour the were required to work, how he would blackmail any possible whistleblower, shady deals so he could continue his monopoly on Dust," as Weiss listed the things that her father did she gave a small sardonic smile to Ruby, but that smile completely faded as she looked back to the ground.

"But that, what he did to that Fa- to Adam, that was beyond horrible," Weiss started to play with her fingers as she continued speaking, "I always thought that when I inherited the company I could just go and say, 'I won't be like my father, starting today, you will be treated with the respect and dignity that you deserve', and just like that everything will be solved," Weiss bit her lip with enough force the bleed, her eyes once again were filled with tears.

"What stupidity, the White Fang has been right all along," Weiss rose her head to look at Ruby, "What did they do to deserve that? What did he and so many other Faunus did to deserve that? What did I do that make me able to enjoy a life of luxuries?!" Weiss raised her voice to the point of screaming.

"I don't even deserve to feel this sadness, I don't deserve to feel anything, not even guilt, if we compare my suffering to the Faunus I don't have any right to feel anything, maybe I should just kill my-" Before Weiss could react a slap across her face stopped her mid-sentence.

"Don't you dare to finish that phrase!!" Ruby screamed as she held in the air the hand with which she slapped Weiss, she also had tears in her eyes as she stared back to Weiss, "Yes, what your father is doing is inhumane and should be stopped, what he does to the Faunus is way beyond cruelty, but he is the one doing it, not you, there is no way you could have to know what he was doing, and even if you knew, there is nothing you could do to stop him," Ruby kneel as she hugged Weiss and rested her head on her shoulder.

"And besides, who decided that you can't feel sadness for having enjoyed a life of luxuries? who decided that you shouldn't feel anything? Tell me, who decided that so I can go I kick their ass," Ruby separated herself from Weiss without breaking the hug, "And don't you dare to say that you should die, you are talking about my best friend, and I won't allow anyone to badmouth her, not even you," Ruby said with a smile.

Weiss only stared at her eyes for a few seconds before her tears returned, Ruby hugged her tightly once again as Weiss started to wail on her chest, Ruby just patted her back.

After a few minutes, Weiss stopped crying, but neither she nor Ruby broke the hug, they remained on their embrace for a few more minutes before the sound of a scroll startled to both of them, Ruby tried to pull out her scroll without breaking the hug, but because of their position, unless she dislocated her shoulder it was impossible, so to the disappointment of both of them she broke the hug.

"It's Ozpin, he says that we need to return to his office and ASAP," When Ruby got up she extended her hand to Weiss to help her get up, Weiss hesitantly grabbed it, once both of them were up, Ruby unclipped her cape and gave it to Weiss, "I don't think you want other people seeing you, right? and without your bolero you must be freezing," Weiss just pulled up the hood to hide her face as she took Ruby's sleeve.

"Thank you," Weiss whispered to Ruby before the two of them departed towards the docks, and because of the hood covering her face, Ruby didn't notice how Weiss was looking at her nor the small blush on her face.

* * *

 

Right now they were on a ship on their way back to Beacon, Weiss hasn't spoken nor has she removed the hood from her face.

Weiss was currently sitting besides Ruby holding her sleeve as she continued to ignore her scroll that has been ringing since they went back to the docks, she just stared to her feets, the one time Ruby caught at glance of Weiss' scroll she saw the name Winter on the screen, Ruby tried to conform Weiss, but she continued to shake from time to time, she looked like a little girl scared of the monsters under her bed, but who was more scared of the monsters she lived with.

"Hey Weiss, have you ever thought of modding Myrtenaster?" Ruby asked with the hope of pulling Weiss from her thoughts and calm her, even if its only for a tiny bit.

Weiss looked up to stare Ruby in her eyes, her eyes were red from crying, she weakly smiled to Ruby before shaking her head in response.

"I know that Myrtenaster has a simple design but have you ever thought of making some sort of attachment, like a second sword to so you can combine them in a double-edged sword or a gun that you attach to the handle so you can increase the range and the power of your shots," Ruby spoke as she stared at Weiss who only smiled and nodded with a small smile on her face.

Ruby continued speaking during the rest of their short trip, once they landed Weiss continued listening to Ruby but after a few minutes she tugged her sleeve, "Oh right, we are here, sorry," Ruby gave ger a sheepish smile when she realized that they were on Beacon.

Once they get off from the ship they made their way towards Ozpin office, Weiss continued holding Ruby's sleeve, and the more they walked the closer she got to Ruby, to the point that she was now almost hugging her arm, Ruby flustered by Weiss actions, started to look around to see if anyone else was watching them, she sadly was right, she saw how her classmates glared with hate to her.

No, they weren't looking at her, but to the girl walking beside her, they were looking with hate and scorn to Weiss.

"Hey, Schnee!" A male voice could be heard from Weiss' left side, she instinctively turned her head to see who was calling her, a tomato struck her face while another hit her in the stomach the moment she turned to see who was calling her, "Why don't you go back to daddy and leave, this is a school for only the best humanity has to offer, and you clearly aren't," Some guy with red hair screamed from behind a crowd.

"Hey, leave her-" Ruby was about to go and scream to that guy's face but she was stopped when someone else threw a rock to Weiss, thankfully her aura protected her, but that didn't stop Weiss from gripping Ruby's arm with more strength.

"Yeah, why don't you leave? You don't deserve to be here, I bet that daddy bought you a place in Beacon," Ruby turned around to see a blonde girl scream to Weiss.

" Get out of here," "You don't deserve to be a Huntress," "You are a monster," More and more people started to gather around Ruby and Weiss, some of them started to throw garbage to Weiss, she didn't react, she just continued to stare at the ground and pull the hood in an attempt to hide her face.

"Weiss! This isn't like you! Scream at them, defend yourself, made them tremble just with your stare!" Ruby shook Weiss by the shoulders in an attempt to make her return to her usual self, "Please, I want my friend back," Ruby whispered to herself as she stopped shaking her but continued holding her by the shoulders.

Ruby looked to the crowd of students that now were surrounding them, she felt how her blood boiled in anger, she gritted her teeth as she scanned the students around, none of them had their weapons, _"They don't even know her,"_ Ruby thought in fury as she saw how some of the students pulled out their scrolls and started to record Weiss, _"How they dare to speak to her in that way,"_ She hugged Weiss in an attempt to protect her as she started to sob in silence, _"How they dare make my angel cry..."_ The last thought made Ruby stop her train of thoughts.

" _My Angel? Where did that come from, yeah Weiss is beautiful as an angel but I don't remember thinking in her in that way, wait, what kind of way I'm thinking of?"_ Ruby started to blush, she was getting confused by her own thoughts, it wasn't until she tried to touch her cheeks that she realized that she had a hand reaching for Crescent Rose, "Uhh?"

"What's the meaning of all this!" The scream of a woman made the students stop their harassing as they turned their heads to see who was the one speaking, "Stop this foolishness in this instant or everyone here will be suspended for the rest of the semester and will be prohibited from participating in the Vytal Festival!" Glynda Goodwitch parted the sea of students as she made her way towards the two girls in the middle of it, "And to make things clear, Ms. Schnee, like all of you, she passed the same initiation test that everyone did without external help, so if I ever hear any of you putting on doubt the validity of Ms. Schnee or any other of your fellow students of their place in the school, I invite you to use the training ground to test it for yourselves," Glynda spoke with a strict tone to the mass of students around, and little by little all of them started to leave, leaving only Glynda with Ruby and Weiss alone.

"Thank you so much, Professor Glynda," Ruby approached her before she spoke first, she sounded grateful for Glynda's intervention, "I don't think I could have controlled myself any more second if you haven't arrived,"

"Its good to hear that, but I believe you have more important stuff to do," Glynda dismissed the last statement as she glanced towards the tower where Ozpin office was located, only to glance back to her students, "But considering your current situation it would be for the best if both of you take a short break in a quieter and more secluded place," Glynda said in a concerned tone, Ruby glanced to her side to see Weiss trembling while she hugged herself

"Yes, and once again, thank you," Ruby returned to Weiss' side, Glynda only nodded in response as she returned from where she came from.

"I'll go and tell Ozpin that you need some time alone before you come to his office, and Ms. Schnee, I know you don't need me to tell you this, but don't listen to them, you truly belong in Beacon and in my personal opinion, you have proven yourself to be more than an Heiress a long time ago, don't let anyone use your name to try to hurt you," Glynda gave Weiss a warm smile, after that Glynda turned her back and started to walk towards Ozpin's office.

Ruby took Weiss' hand and guided her towards one of the classrooms that she knew was empty at this moment of the day, Weiss followed her in silence as she stared to the ground, once that both of them arrived at the empty classroom Ruby put the lock on the door and glared at Weiss.

"Ok, this needs to stop and now," Ruby spoke in an unusually serious tone, "I can't begin to understand how you must feel, and I know that you feel guilty, but you need to stop moping around" Ruby grabbed Weiss by the shoulders as she forced her to look at her in the eyes, "We need you, Weiss,, I know its unfair of me to ask you to put your problems aside, but please, once we are done with this problems I promise to help you in anything you want," Ruby finished speaking as she continues to watch Weiss in the eyes, she felt how a few tears looked like they were about to fall from her eyes.

After a few moments of Weiss not making any sound, she finally opened her mouth.

"I... I will try to do my best, but first I need you to promise me something," Weiss finally spoke as she took a step back and maintained eye contact with Ruby, her neutral expression almost scared her partner.

" _Her eyes look like the first time we met, so that was what she felt when we met_ " Ruby thought as she saw the emotions Weiss hid behind her eyes, " _So much sadness, and so lonely,_ " Ruby thought as she saw the neutral expression in Weiss' face, "What it is?" Ruby smiled as she responded.

"It may be sound selfish, but please, promise me that you won't hate me," Weiss neutral expression broke as she showed a pained one.

"I promise that I won't hate you, no matter what, and I promise that I would never leave your side," Ruby took Weiss' hands, this made the later blush at the sudden touch of the younger girl.

"Please no, I don't think I could keep my sanity if we were together forever," Weiss joked as she gave a playful smile to Ruby without letting her hands go, "But thanks, I appreciate it." When Weiss took a step back she felt how her legs gave up and if it wasn't for a pair of arms she would have probably hit the floor.

"What? Did my natural charms make you weak in the knees?" Ruby mocked her as she held Weiss by the waist, she felt the erratic breath of Weiss in her neck as she continued to hold her.

"You wish," Weiss raised her head to look Ruby in the eyes, both of them engaging in a silent staring contest.

"Pff ahahahahahaha" and after a few moments where both of them tried to maintain a neutral expression, the two girls started to laugh without any apparent reason, it wasn't until Ruby felt how Weiss grip on her tightened and buried her head in the crook of her neck that Ruby stopped laughing, she listened to how Weiss laugh transformed in a sob.

"Thank you, thank you so much, Ruby," Weiss whispered in between her tears.

"Its okay Weiss, I would always be here for you, there is no way I could leave my best friend suffering alone," Ruby held tighter to Weiss' waist.

"Yes..., we are best friends," Weiss repeated as she continued crying.

Ruby couldn't help but feel a throbbing pain in her chest when Weiss said those words, " _Shouldn't I be happy?"_ She though confused by the sudden pain.

 

She wasn't the only one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I need to be honest, I have never truly fallen in love, so if the interactions between Ruby and Weiss feel awkward is probably because of my lack of experience in that subject, and I know that it is kinda personal, but if any of you could tell me your experience I would appreciate it, but don't feel forced to do it.
> 
> Changing of the subject, in the middle of the chapter I feel that I made Weiss cry too much but I truly believe if she had seen Adam's scare she would have reacted in a really drastic way, and that's something I would love to see, Weiss facing directly the pain the SDC has caused.
> 
> And to close this notes I'm writing another new story, even though I'm already taking in average like two weeks to post each chapter of this one or the fact that I have Godhunters in pause because I can't decide on what I want to do with Blake, but to don't lag on the updates for that story I'll start posting it once I have a few chapters done. And as a preview the (temporary)name of my new story: Fate/Hunters of Remnant
> 
> Without anything else to say, if you enjoyed the chapter, want to give some critic or tips, or just want to talk, feel free to leave a review or send me a DM, I'll try to answer.


	10. A spur of the moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small warning, mention of toxic relationships and past abuse

"Here, do you need anything else?" Yang handed a bottle of water to Blake who was now sitting on a bench with an unopened ice lolly on her forehead, they were currently in a public park, isolated from other people.

"Thanks," Blake took the water as she uncapped it and took a long sip.

"So do you want to explain what happened there, you suddenly started shaking and before I knew it you were throwing up, are you sick, should we take a small detour to the doctor before going back to Beacon?" Yang asked with concern as she stroked Blake's hair.

Blake looked Yang in the eyes with a tired expression, Yang looked at her like she tried to say "Take your time", Blake took a deep sight before she opened her mouth

"Do you remember about my partner? He was the one in the video, Adam Taurus, I knew him since we were kids, he... he was my best friend when we were kids, he was my teacher in some things, and before I knew it, he became something more as we grew up, but as we both grew up, he also started to change, his actions against humans became more extreme, at first they were accidents, then self-defense, and before I knew it he stopped giving reasons, he just started looking for ways to hurt humans and what he called 'traitors to the Faunus cause'," Blake stared to the ground as she took a pause, her grip on the bottle tightened as she took a deep breath.

"And our relationship also started to change, at first they were little things, how he didn't like it when I talked to certain people, how he didn't want me to see me interacting with humans, then he started to blame me when our missions failed, he shamed me for the way I did certain things, and when my family decided to cut relationships with the White Fang he convince me that they were traitors, cowards, that they didn't deserve me on their lives, and then he started to turn violent towards me," Blake touched her cheek as she said the last thing.

"At first I convinced myself that he had his reasons, that he was right, and that I was wrong, but one day something clicked inside my mind I saw him for what he really was, and I ran away," Blake looked defeated as she finished speaking.

"Blake I..." Yang tried to say something but her words died on her throat.

"No, it's ok, you don't have to say anything, I won't deny the fact that I'm scared, he hurt me, Yang,, he hurt me in ways that I didn't know were possible, but as much as he affected me, I don't want to be defined by him nor his actions," Blake gave a weak smile to Yang, and in return she gave her a nervous smile as an answer, "Its only that I always thought that one day I would have to confront him, to stop him once and for all, to finally put an end to that chapter of my life, but know that he isn't with us anymore, I don't know what I should feel, I need some time to think,"

"Just..., just tell me when you feel better so we can go back to Beacon, I'll be around looking for something to eat, if you need sometime please call me, ok?" Yang took Blake's hand and gave it a little squeeze as she spoke.

"I promise I will, I just need some time alone," Blake smiled as she squeezed Yang's hand in return, and with that Yang departed towards the streets.

* * *

Yang wandered around as she looked left and right as she searched for something to eat,  _"Sandwiches, no, that won't fill her nor my stomach, what about Ramen? no, it would be a pain bringing it to her without dropping it, tuna would surely cheer her up, but the closest place where they sell it it's too far away,"_  Yang thought as she listed her options.

Yang stopped death on her tracks when she glanced over some ice cream shop, the reason for that wasn't because of the ice cream itself, but because of a certain girl with a two-toned hair behind a window, the girl turned around and crossed eyes with Yang, the girl at first was shocked when she saw Yang, but she quickly flashed a mocking smile to Yang before she quickly exited the store and motioned to Yang with her finger to follow her,

Because of how sudden the encounter was, Yang didn't react until the girl entered an alley.

"Hey! come back!" Yang chased the girl as both of them ran between alleys and the streets of Vale, Yang started to pant when the chase started to prolong, but when Yang was about to give up she cornered the girl on a dead-end.

"Time for some payback," Yang changed Ember Celica to their gauntlet form as she approached the girl, when she got close enough she punched the girl in the face, but instead to sending her flying towards the wall, she shattered like she was made of glass.

"What?!" Yang widened her eyes as she screamed in confusion, as she took a step back she felt a blade pressed against her neck, "Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me!" Yang growled in exasperation as she quickly put some distance between her and the girl and turned around to see her.

The girl twirled her parasol as she retracted her blade from the tip, she pulled her scroll as she typed something, Yang looked at her with confusion but before she could do something the girl tossed her scroll towards Yang.

"I want to make a deal with you, I'll tell you everything you want to know about Cinder and you give me Roman back," Yang read aloud the message in the scroll as she raised an eyebrow, "What? And what is stopping me from knocking you unconscious and taking you to Ironwood and Ozpin?" Yang screamed at the girl as she tossed the scroll back.

The girl just rolled her eyes as she typed something and tossed her scroll to Yang once again.

"Both of us know that you can't do shit c:, Do something funny and I might as well stay on Cinder's side and help her destroy the city and your dear school with it," Yang's eyes turned red as she stared at the message, she felt tempted to throw the scroll to the girl's face but she needed a way to communicate with her and she wouldn't dare to use her scroll.

Yang stared with fury to the girl who just stared back with a smug on her face, "Why are you doing this? And why me?" Yang asked as she threw the scroll back to the girl, the girl just put her hands on her hips and shook her head in disappointment, after she finished she just typed something in the scroll, it must have been something really long as she took a few minutes typing, once she finished she threw it back to Yang.

"When we (Roman and me) meet Cinder, we didn't have a choice, it was either work for her or die, and Roman is the type of person to always choose the option of surviving over anything else, so that's why we work for her," Yang read the first paragraph of the message with an eyebrow raised in disbelief, "So they didn't work for her willingly, well that explains why she is selling her now," Yang thought as she took a pause from the message to stare to the girl, now that she took her time to look at her, her outfit looked like a female version of Roman's outfit.

"It's because of her that Roman is imprisoned in Ironwood's ship, and I can't free him without Cinder's help, but right now she is weak, the past few weeks she has been losing the resources that WE stole for her, and now, thanks to Adam, everyone knows about her plan, right now there is no point in sticking to her side, I was actually going to search for one of Ironwood's soldiers to ask them to take my proposal to Ironwood, I was lucky to find you," Yang stared back to the girl who now was twirling her umbrella as she stared at her feets.

"So I propose this, convince Ironwood to release Roman and to leave us alone and I'll tell him anything about Cinder he wants to know, what are her plans, where she is, anything I know, but you should act fast, now that Adam revealed her plans, who knows what she would do now, she might as well start her plan at this very moment," Yang finally finished reading the message, she threw the scroll back to the girl as she thought on what she should do.

The girl stared at her curiously as she got a little closer to Yang, she folded her umbrella and put her hands behind her back with the umbrella, Yang sighed and looked directly at the mismatched colored eyes of the girl.

"Ok, I don't promise anything but I will make sure that Ironwood knows about your proposal," Yang closed the distance between she and the girl, "Yang Xiao Long," Yang extended her hand to the girl, she stared back at her confused before she typed something in her scroll and showed its contents to Yang.

"Neo, Neo Politan, I hope we both get what we want from this deal," Yang read the message, under it there was a number that probably belonged to Neo, she quickly saved it on her scroll before she put it away, Neo put her scroll in one of her pockets and then shook Yang's hand, both of them smirked, but before she could react, Yang yanked Neo and punched her on her stomach, Neo felt how the air escaped from her lungs as she kneeled and started coughing.

"That's for what happened on the train, I may be helping you, but I won't forget how you helped the White Fang to hurt innocent people," Yang turned her back to Neo as she left the alley.

By the time Neo finally stopped coughing, she stared to where Yang went as she smirked to herself, she heard how a second pair of footsteps started to run away from the alley, " _Now to hide until Blondie does her part._ "

* * *

"Where have you been?" Blake gave an inquisitory stare to Yang who was carrying two greasy paper bags, one in each hand.

"You know, looking for food, pondering about what I should buy to Ruby for her birthday, meeting a small psychopath who wants to sell Cinder to Ironwood, you know the usual," Yang threw one of the paper bags to Blake, she almost dropped it as she stared in disbelief at Yang.

"You what!?" Blake screamed in disbelief as she stared at Yang with her eyes and mouth wide open.

"If I was you, I would close my mouth before some fly enters," Yang pulled a hamburger from her paper bag, it had three slices of meat, cheese, mushrooms, and strips of bacon, she gives it a big bite as she took a seat besides Blake.

"Yang! This is serious," Blake screamed exasperated.

"Don't worry, I only need to tell this to Ironwood, I don't even have to interact with the little psychopath," Yang dismissed Blake's concerns as she finished eating her food, "So I suppose that you are ok," Yang changed the subject as she stared to Blake's golden eyes.

"What psychopath? Yang you, ught!" Blake growled in exasperation as she rolled her eyes, she took deep breaths as she tried to relax, "Yes, I appreciate you preoccupation but I only needed a moment to cool down," Blake stared at her food with a little bit of disgust, "Ugh, I don't think I could eat anything at the moment" Blake stored her food on the paper bag, she stood up and started to walk away, "Come on, everyone is waiting for us,"

"I'm right behind you," Yang followed her as both of them made their way towards the docks.

* * *

"Hey guys, have any luck," Nora asked Pyrrha and Jaune who just arrived in front of the Beacon Tower.

"We found some...interesting stuff, but I don't know how relevant they will be now that that happened.," Jaune responded as he glanced curiously to the box that Ren and Nora were carrying, "It seems you found something too, what is it?"

"We don't know, after we found this we ran in some troubles so we came back as fast as possible, so we haven't checked what is inside the boxes," Ren answered as he looked at Pyrrha with a little of concern, "Pyrrha are you okay?"

"Uhh, yes sorry, Amber was saying that there is a familiar scent on these boxes, by any chance, do they belong to Cinder?" Pyrrha asked a little uneasy.

"Yes, how did you...oooooh right," Nora's smile vanished as she realized the reason for Amber's curiosity, "Sorry, we should have been a bit more tactful in bringing the subject of you know who," Nora spoke in a guilty tone as she proceeded to caress Pyrrha's shoulder in an attempt to comfort the other person inside of her friend.

"No, it's ok, this is our problem, sorry for ruining the mood, thanks, Nora," Pyrrha flashed a smile to Nora, and for a brief moment her eyes changed from green to brown, but before Nora could ask something she pointed in front of her, "Hey look, it seems that Yang and Blake changed their clothes, I really wanted to take a picture of them," Pyrrha said in a disappointed tone.

"Hey, guys, do you know where are Ruby and Weiss? They aren't picking their scrolls?" Yang asked concerned once she finally reached the base of the tower.

"No, sorry, do you want us to call them?" while Ren was the first one to ask, Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha have already pulled out their scrolls.

"I believe that won't be necessary, Miss Rose and Miss Schnee need a little time alone, they will join us later," Glynda said as she came out from the tower.

"Did something happened to Ruby?" Yang asked a little alarmed.

"Oh no she is fine, but it seems that the content of the video in today's news has altered the public perception of Miss Schnee's morals," Glynda motioned to her students to follow her as she spoke.

"People aren't stupid enough to blame Weiss for the treatment her dad gives to the Faunus, right?" Jaune asked a little angry at the implication of what Glynda said.

"Language Mister Arc," Glynda gave a sharp gaze to Jaune, freezing him in fear, "And sadly you are right," Glynda entered the elevator as she waited for her students to do the same.

"Maybe we should return to the dorm and see how she is doing," Blake's tone was filled with worry, she glanced to Yang who nodded in return.

"While I'm happy to see that you are worried about your friend, right now we need to focus on more urgent matters," And as if Glynda timed her words, the moment she finished speaking the elevator's doors opened.

The first thing they saw was General Ironwood passing around and Professor Ozpin talking to someone on his screen.

"...my ships are already posted on the outskirts of the city, even if they could somehow activate them, we will be able to see them coming, yes my robots are also deactivated, now if you excuse me I have other things to discuss," Ironwood ended his call as he placed his scroll on his front pocket, he turned around and glanced at the group of students, at the same time Ozpin finished his own call.

"Before we begin, how was your search? I can see that there was some progress by the looks of those boxes," Ozpin stood up as he walked to Ironwood's side, Glynda did the same and stoop beside Ozpin.

"We found these boxes on a house that apparently Cinder rented for some time," Nora spoke first in a triumphant tone as she and Ren laid the boxes on the floor, but her smile vanished quickly as she stared at the boxes.

"But after we recovered those boxes, the landlord was abducted by what we believe was Ghost, during our search we discovered that a considerable amount of people has been disappearing, in their houses, on their way to work or school, in public spaces, and it happens during both day and nighttime, once we saw how a person who was on the same room as us disappeared without any of us noticing it until it was too late we came as soon as possible," Ren continued once he noticed how Nora didn't want to talk about it.

"Yes, since a few weeks back the police has been asking me for help in trying to find the culprit behind this disappearings, but I have been so busy with maintaining the security for the Vytal Festival that I haven't been able to do anything, but know with almost all of my forces frozen and the Vytal Festival practically canceled, maybe I should check this in person," Ironwood pinched the bridge of his nose as he recalled the current state of his army, "Lets see what is inside those boxes, maybe we can learn something about Cinder," Ironwood crutched as he opened the lid of one of the boxes.

"Wait, what?!" Yang asked flatly as she stared with disbelief to Ironwood with a raised eyebrow, "What do you mean that the Vytal Festival is practically canceled?" She wasn't the only one confused, her friends stared at Ironwood in shock with their eyes wide open.

"The message that Adam Taurus raised some alarms on the population, if it was just the video most people would have taken it as some sort of sick joke, but when the media announced how he was found dead in the forest as he said, people started to panic, so most of the students that came to participate in the Vytal Festival and the tourist decided to return to their home," Ozpin explained as he stared at the disappointed faces of his students, "It hasn't been announced, but contrary to what most people would think, the number of Grimm that had tried to attack the city's walks haven't increased, in fact, it's the contrary, and this is something that has the council and us worried," Ozpin continued talking in his calm tone of voice.

"This is worrisome because of the possible reasons for this; one, there is someplace near Vale that was a greater concentration of negative emotions that is distracting the Grimm from the city; two, we have been doing such a good job in hunting the creatures of Grimm that their numbers are finally being reduced, and finally three, there is someone or something that is keeping the Grimm at bay," Glynda listed the options to her students who stared at her with dread on their eyes, "As much as we would like for it to be, number two is the least possible option, that leaves us with number one and three, and honestly, we don't know if any of those are good or bad" Glynda ended in a somber tone.

"But why they could be something bad?" Jaune put his hands behind his head as he asked confused by Glynda's explanation.

"If there is a place with more negativity than a city in panic for the treat of a terrorist attack, then we must have noticed it long ago, but there hasn't been anything like that, right?" Pyrrha looked to her teachers as she explained to Jaune.

"Yes, as far as we know there hasn't been any activity on the outskirts of Vale that could attract Grimm in the numbers that we are talking about," Ironwood was the one to answer Pyrrha's question, Ozpin only nodded in response.

"That means that there is a really big concentration of negative emotions in a place close to Vale that we are unaware of either the location nor the nature of this place," Pyrrha finished explained in an ominous tone, "Then there is the idea that there is someone keeping the Grimm at bay, that means that through some unknown methods, someone is manipulating the behavior of Grimm, and as Blake and Yang had told us in the past, that's never something good," Pyrrha glanced at the two aforementioned.

"Yeah, Cinder and Ghost are already problem enough, a second Dr. Merlot could only make things worse," Yang rubbed her eyes as she remembered their encounter with Dr. Merlot.

"Either option is troublesome, but catching Cinder has more priority at the moment, and know that her plans have been exposed, the probability of her doing something drastic has increased, so we need to catch her as soon as possible, after that we can investigate what is distracting the Grimm from Vale," Ozpin turned his back to his students as he walked towards the window, he took his mug from his desk and took a sip, he remained in silent for a moment before he turned around to look at his students, "Before we proceed to open the boxes, I would like to know what the rest of you found, Pyrrha? Jaune?" Ozpin motioned with his hand to the aforementioned.

"Ah, yes" Jaune responded a little nervous before he straightened his posture, "We searched around the warehouse in the port of the city, we found in some of them enough Dust to blow the whole city, from crystals, powder, and ammo, to unrefined Dust," Jaune said in an almost militaristic tone as he recalled what they found on their search, "Before Adam's video was transmitted we found a warehouse that contained Paladins with the White Fang logo, including a large amount of Lien, weapons, uniforms, and masks, it was probably a hideout of them, but now, I don't think they are going to use them for a while," When Jaune finished he let a small sigh escape from his mouth.

"While I don't think the White Fang would cause any trouble soon I will make my men investigate the warehouse if you could point where it is," Ironwood pulled a really detailed map of Vale in placed it on Ozpin's desk, he motioned Jaune to come closer to him.

"If I'm not mistaken it was around here," Jaune pointed to one of the warehouses on the port.

"Thanks, I'll send some of my men later, now, Blake, Yang, what did you two found," Ironwood rolled the map and put it inside his coat, he then placed his gaze on the two members of Team RWBY.

"We didn't have much luck like Team JNPR, but I think I found something that could place Cinder on a silver tray," Yang showed a cocky smile as she pointed a finger to the air, "But maybe none of you would agree to the price that it requires," Yang then pointed to her teachers as her smile became a more nervous one.

"What did you do now Miss Xiao Long?" Glynda asked in an exasperated tone as she adjusted her glasses.

"In my defense, I wasn't planning on doing anything, it was more a spur of the moment," Yang pulled out her scroll as she searched for something on it, "Returning to my findings, I meet someone close to Roman, she is willing to sell Cinder to us, but she wants Ironwood to release him and leave them alone, so what if-" Yang stopped talking when Ironwood raised his hand in front of his face, signaling her to stop talking.

"No, absolutely no, Roman Torchwick is a dangerous criminal, we can just let him roam free on the streets," Ironwood spoke in a severe tone as he looked down to Yang.

"So what are we supposed to do, James? You know what a Maiden is capable of, he could be our key in finding her," Glynda exasperated by Ironwood attitude slapped a wall near her with her riding crop, frightening her students by the student sound of air cracking.

"We can't go around trading one evil for a lesser one! We would never beat her doing that, we need to completely annihilate any trace of evil!" Ironwood screamed to Glynda as he turned to face her, with Ozpin in between them.

"James! Glynda! This is not the time!" And Ozpin did something that surprised his students, he raised his voice in anger, "Yes, we shouldn't choose the lesser of two evils, but right now this is our only choice, Cinder was injured during Ghost's initial attack, that gave us the advantage in searching for her, but the more time we let slip, the closer she gets to recover from her wounds, and now with her plans exposed to everyone in Vale and probably the rest of the kingdoms, who knows what she would be capable of," Both Ironwood and Glynda had a frown on their faces as they listened to Ozpin. The students have been long been forgotten.

_'Ding'_  The sound of the elevator caught everyone's attention as they all turned the heads confused to the sudden arrival of more people.

"Professor Ozpin, General Ironwood, just the people we were looking for," Three older men came out of the elevator, the one on the center and also the one who spoke was the tallest of the three, he had a long white beard that reached his knees, white long hair that reached his waist, white skin, and yellow eyes, he wore a dark blue suit over a white shirt.

"Myrrhin, to what do I own your visit? If you haven't noticed we are in the middle of something," Ozpin spoke with a hostile tone that the three men either missed or ignored.

"Ohohoho, don't be like that Oz," the man of the left laughed as he hugged his prominent belly, "You already know why we are here," He was a short and chubby man with what looked like a permanent smile on his face, just like the first man, he had a white beard, only that shorter, he really short white hair, white skin, and blue eyes, he wore a red suit and a green scarf around his neck.

"And whatever you are talking with your students," The third man eyed to the group students with contempt on his eyes, "I'm sure it can wait, we have more urgent matters in hands," He had red hair with some white hair, he was the tallest of the three, he wore a black suit with a pocket watch on his front pocket that he pulled out as he watched it.

"Hey! I don't know who you are but-" Yang was interrupted, again, as Glynda stoop between her and the three men.

"Miss Xiao Long, those three are the councilmen, Myrrhin, Kohles, and Fatuos, we can continue with our conversation later, right now we need to leave them alone," Glynda spoke as she guides the students towards the elevator.

"Thank you, Glynda, but you and General Ironwood would also have to leave," Myrrhin spoke in a disinterested tone of voice as he looked to something on his scroll

"What?!" Ironwood asked flatly, both he and Glynda stared incredulously to the councilmen.

"It's ok, we would continue this conversation tomorrow, Glynda, James" Ozpin said in a calm tone as he looked back at them.

"But what about Gh-" Before Jaune could say anything else, Pyrrha covered his mouth with his hand as she awkwardly smiled to the councilmen that stared at then.

"Sure, maybe tomorrow in the morning, come on guys," Pyrrha spoke as she almost dragged her friends towards the elevator, the teachers followed close behind as they stared with worry at Ozpin.

They stayed in silence until they were once again outside the tower.

"What was that for?!" "I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do!" "What are we suppose to do now?!" "We need to come with a plan and fast!" "We should continue our search," "What about Weiss and Ruby?" Everyone started to speak at the same time as they panicked.

"Everyone calm down!" Glynda screamed frustrated, once everyone calmed down she continued talking in a more calm voice, "Right now we need to think on what to do next, anyone has any suggestion?" Yang stared at the ground as she tried to think about something while Nora, Ren, and Blake talked between them, Pyrrha had a blank expression as she stared at nothingness, Jaune held his chin as he looked at the tower.

"If I may, I have a suggestion," Ironwood stared at Yang as he spoke, "Right now I can't use my robots nor my ships, that means that right now we only can count with ourselves to stop Cinder," Ironwood formed a fist with his left hand in anger as he stared at the ground, "And now that Adam revealed her plans she must be desperate, right now she could try anything in an attempt to get the rest of the Maiden's powers, but we have the advantage of having our own Maide," Ironwood turned his gaze towards Pyrrha, snapping her out of her thoughts, "Yang, arrange a meeting with Roman's ally, tonight we are going to apprehend Cinder Fall and her pawns," Yang looked confused for a second before she pulled out her scroll and started to type something.

"What about Ruby and Weiss, shouldn't we tell them," Jaune asked consternated for his friends.

"As much as we could use more people, with Ghost hunting both her and Cinder, and Weiss' emotional state, they would end up being more of a detriment than anything," Ironwood stated in a cold tone, he relaxed his expression for a moment, "I'm sorry but I'm not willing to take any risk,"

"She says she will meet us in a warehouse that Roman uses as a hideout," Yang told everyone as she read the message.

"It's pretty close to where we found the White Fang hideout," Pyrrha whispered once she saw the direction in Yang's scroll

"In that case, if you could lead us," Ironwood motioned Pyrrha to take the lead as he took a step back.

"Ok everyone lets go!" Pyrrha screamed as they all ran towards the docks in order to take a Bullhead

And maybe it was because of how busy they were talking with each other, or because it was already autumn, or maybe because the sun was starting to set, that none of them noticed how, even if it was for a few degrees, how the temperature unnaturally dropped, and maybe it was because they were so busy talking with each other, that none of them noticed how a tendril with a fake ear attached to it was listening to everything they were saying.

"Cinder," Ghost spoke with the voice comprised of numerous people as they stared from the top of the dorms, Ghost jumped from the roof, they looked back to an open window with a curtain diagonally cut and sewed back, only to change in a cloud of black particles and follow the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry for the delay, this week I started school again, and that combined with work has made difficult to find some time to write.
> 
> And I finally decided to change the name of this story, now time to change this generic summary for one more flashy one.
> 
> I hope that I did a good job showing Blake's side of her relationship with Adam and that I didn't offend anyone.
> 
> If you haven't noticed it, I suck in coming up with names and considering that in RWBY the names have to be color-related, it only makes more difficult this sort of stuff for me
> 
> And before I give the usual farewell I need to make an announcement, because it's too long I posted it on Tumblr on this [Link](https://aiwass-crowley.tumblr.com/post/187069451948/fanfics-update)  
> tl;dr Life is getting too busy so I need to take a break
> 
> I'm NOT abandoning this story nor Godhunters, so if you are reading both of them, Godhunters will be the next story that I update before taking my break,
> 
> And finally, without anything else to say, if you enjoyed the chapter, have anything to say, want to leave a critic or some tip, or you just want to talk, feel free to leave a comment, I'll try to answer as soon as possible.
> 
> Thanks for reading


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